The History of Pizza

Luca Cesari, Zachary Nowak

• Publisher: Polity
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781509566648
• eBook ISBN: 9781509566655
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Modern History
• Index: History

Pizza is the Italian food that has conquered the world: from Brussels to LA, from Beijing to Buenos Aires, pizzas and pizzerias can be found everywhere today. But what are the origins of this food and how did it rise from its humble beginnings to become the world's best-loved dish?

The story begins in the narrow alleys of Naples where, in the late eighteenth century, the city's impoverished inhabitants lived in a state of constant hunger. Pizza was born as a street food to assuage the hunger of Naples' poor. Cheap and versatile, it remained anonymous for more than a century – the few outsiders who encountered this strange flatbread, "more burned than cooked," either loved it or hated it. Gradually pizza spread to other parts of Italy and then, with the mass migration of Italians to the New World, it landed in the United States, where it enjoyed unprecedented success, invigorated by new ingredients, new recipes, and new tastes. Today, Americans are the biggest consumers of pizza in the world, at 13 kilos per head per year.

The renowned culinary historian Luca Cesari retraces the story of pizza's rise from the backstreets of Naples to a global industry now worth more than $200 billion a year. He describes how pizzas were made, the ingredients used, and the reactions of travelers, critics, and consumers. Richly illustrated with recipes from different times and places, The History of Pizza will transform your view of Italy's most iconic food.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Introduction: A Global History of the World’s Best-Loved Dish
• Prologue: Naples or New York?
• PART ONE: IN NAPLES
• The Origin of a Myth: Hunger in Naples
• Neapolitan Pizzaioli and Pizzerias: Key Players and Bakeries
• Deeds and Misdeeds of Neapolitan Pizza: The First Mentions of Pizza
• The True History of the Pizza Margherita: A Regal Story
• The Mystery of the Neapolitan Recipe: What the Sources Don’t Say
• Beyond Naples: The Historic “First Wave” in Italy
• PART TWO: PIZZAS OR NOT
• Pizza Before There Were Pizzas: From Aeneas’ Bread to the Piadina
• Pizzas That Aren’t Pizza: Sweat, Flakey, Rustic, and Fried
• PART THREE: PLANET PIZZA
• Pizza’s Overseas Voyage
• Pizzaioli and Pizzerias in the United States: The First Neapolitan Pioneers
• Pizza from San Francisco to Buenos Aires: An Itinerary Through the Americas
• Global Recipes: Pizzas from One End of the World to the Other
• The Return Trip: Pizza Heads Back to Italy
• The Invention of Tradition: …and the Phenomenon of the “Pizza Effect”
• Hamburgers and Hot Dogs: How a Dish Becomes American
• The Invasion of the Old Continent: When Pizza Went Global
• APPENDICES
• The Legend About Water
• How You Eat a Pizza
• Pizza at the Movies
• Conclusion: The Pizza of the Future
• Acknowledgments
• End User License Agreement