by Marq Blanks, Food Tour Guide, Culinary Escapes LLC
The origins of pizza can be traced back to 6th century BC Persians or 3rd century BC Greeks. But for Americans, the modern love affair with the flat dish began in New York at the turn of the last century.
In 1897, Gennaro Lombardi, an Italian immigrant in New York, opened a store in Little Italy where one of his employees made pizza. It became so popular that by 1905, Lombardi had opened New York’s first stand alone pizzeria. Its popularity picked up in the Italian communities and the ethnic restaurant became a profitable enterprise. According to US pizza history, Lombardi’s pizzeria was the first U.S. restaurant to dedicate its entire menu solely to the Italian favorite.
Until World War II, pizza in the United States was typically an ethnic affair, served by Italians to Italians. During the war, soldiers and sailors discovered the beloved Italian food of the masses, pizza. They came home with a taste for it and began making pilgrimages to Italian restaurants in Italian neighborhoods in their own cities. By the 1950s, a boom in pizza consumption began in the U.S. that has not abated to this day.
The history of the first original American pizza dates back to 1943 when Chicagoan Ike Sewell introduced deep-dish pizza to the Windy City. Pizzeria Uno offered pies worthy of oversized appetites, with a thin crust lining a cake pan filled with many layers of cheese, meats, veggies, and sauce. Shortly thereafter, the development of gas-fired pizza ovens made pizza entrepreneurship easier and more affordable, resulting in mom-and-pop pizza shops springing up around the U.S. There are now probably more kinds of pizza in America than in Italy.
The next major change in American pizza history was the advent delivery focused chains. Major chains and independent pizzerias have served billions of slices around the world since the 1960s.
Some of the major varieties of pizza offered include:
· Neapolitan: A flat, hearth-baked, chewy crust topped with tomatoes or tomato sauce and mild cheese. One of its variations includes the New York style pizza, which is bigger and flatter than the original pizza of Napoli. New Haven style pizza refers to white pizza with clams. Philadelphia pizzas can be classic Neapolitan or a variation with a slightly sweet taste.
· Chicago style deep dish: contains a crust which reverses the order of the ingredients, using a crust, cheese filling then sauce on top.
· Sicilian: Original Sicilian pizza is a rectangular slab of bread with toppings (excluding cheese) pushed into the dough before baking. The American version is different, with a thick layer of cheese encasing all the toppings.
One of the most popular types of pizza available locally is the Detroit style pizza, made famous by Shields and Buddy’s in Detroit which is very similar to the Sicilian style pizza. It is a square pizza, with a thick crust, often twice-baked and the sauce is put last. The beauty of the Detroit pizza is in its crust, which is baked to a chewy-medium-well state and often has a layer of butter applied before baking.
For a sample of a Neapolitan style pizza or a unique baked potato pizza, participate in the Culinary Escapes food tour of Birmingham or Royal Oak, Michigan.
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Culinary Escapes Staff
Culinary Escapes, LLC - Unique Food Tours of Metro
Detroit
www.culinary-escapes.com