How a despised junk food became food fit for a queen
Pizza, the world’s most popular and favourite fast food has ancient roots, but what was it that eventually propelled it towards global domination?
It was in late 18th-century Naples that the pizza as we now know it came into being. Naples had become one of the largest cities in Europe – and it was growing fast. Fuelled by overseas trade and a steady invasion of peasants from the countryside, its population doubled from 200,000 in 1700 to 399,000 in 1748, forcing an ever greater number of the city’s inhabitants to fall into poverty.
As many as 50,000, (known as lazzaronis), were thus forced to rush about each day searching for work as porters, messengers or labourers. Their meager wages meant looking for cheap and easy to eat food. Pizza that could be cut into various sizes and at varying prices, and sold by street vendors met that need.
Associated as the food of the lazzaronis, pizzas were described as ‘disgusting’ – particularly by foreigners. Samuel Morse – inventor of the telegraph, described pizza as a “species of the most nauseating cake … covered over with slices of pomodoro or tomatoes, and sprinkled with little fish and black pepper and I know not what other ingredients, it altogether looks like a piece of bread that has been taken reeking out of the sewer.’'
This story begins in Italy in 1868 when Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, married his first cousin, Margherita Teresa Giovanna, Princess of Savoy. Legend has it that Queen Margherita was bored of eating French food — the prevailing cuisine of the time for royalty. Instead, she apparently wanted to eat something simple — something that the commoners were eating – which happened to be pizza.
It is said that Queen Margherita summoned Raffaele Esposito, the most famous pizza-maker in Naples at that time and commissioned him to make different pizzas for her and the King.
Among the different types offered, the royal couple enjoyed one in particular – the pizza that was seasoned with tomato, mozzarella cheese and herbs. Coincidently or otherwise, its colours were red, white and green; the same as the Italian flag. When Raffaele was asked by the queen what it was called, the chef unhesitant replied “Margherita”. The Queen was delighted.
Some claim it was due to his love for his Queen, others say it was due to his cunning quick thinking. Whatever, it was, the most famous Neapolitan pizza was officially born. So, it was Queen Margherita’s trip to Naples in 1889 that led to today’s favourite junk food.
Margherita’s seal of approval not only elevated the pizza from being a food fit only for lazzaroni to being something a royal family could enjoy, but also transformed pizza from a local into a truly national dish.
By the end of the 19th century, the Pizza arrived in the US with the arrival of immigrants from Southern Italy. Soon it became North America’s most popular Italian dish, as it evolved with some toppings that Neapolitans now found weird – leaving some of the pizza purist bewildered.
Thankfully, despite what the Americans have done, which includes eating it out of the hand (in Italy it is eaten with a fork and knife)...today’s pizza is still recognisable as pizza.
Ilzaf Keefahs - Is a freelance writer who enjoys focusing on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike.
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