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Pizza (Template:PronEng listen, in Italian: ) is a popular dish made with an oven-baked, flat, generally round bread that is covered with tomatoes or a tomato-based sauce and mozzarella cheese. Other toppings are added according to region, culture or personal preference.
Originating as a part of Italian cuisine, the dish has become popular in many different parts of the world. A shop or restaurant where pizzas are made and sold is called a “pizzeria”. The phrase “pizza parlor” is also used in the United States. The term pizza pie is dialectal, and pie is used for simplicity in some contexts, such as among pizzeria staff.
Pizza is amazing it is the best food in the world!!!!!!!!!!!
Similar dishes
- “Farinata” or “cecina”. A Ligurian (farinata) and Tuscan (cecina) regional dish made from chickpea flour, water, salt and olive oil. Also called Socca in the Provence region of France. Often baked in a brick oven, and typically weighed and sold by the slice.
- The Alsatian tarte flambée (German: Flammkuchen) is a thin disc of dough covered in crème fraîche, onions, and bacon.
- The Anatolian Lahmacun (Arabic: lahma bi ajeen; Armenian: lahmajoun; also Armenian pizza or Turkish pizza) is a meat-topped dough round. The bread is usually very thin; the layer of meat often includes chopped vegetables.
- The Provençal pissaladiere is similar to an Italian pizza, with a slightly thicker crust and generally a topping of cooked onions, anchovies, and olives.
- Calzone and stromboli are very similar dishes (calzone is traditionally half-moon-shaped, while a stromboli is tube-shaped) that are often made of pizza dough rolled or folded around a filling.
- Garlic fingers is an Atlantic Canadian dish, similar to a pizza in shape and size, and made with the same type of dough. It is garnished with melted butter, garlic, cheese, and sometimes bacon.
- Pizza is sometimes used as a general word for a savory pie; the Campanian pizza rustica and the Italian American pizzagiena (Easter pie) are examples of this more general sense.
- Pizza Puffs are folded dough, similar to that used in an eggroll, with cheese and ingredients stuffed inside, and deep fried. Puffs are popular at hot dog and gyros stands. Similar to the Pizza Puff is the Pizza Pocket, which is not deep fried, and is a sort of knock-off calzone.
Italian and European law
In Italy there is a bill before Parliament to safeguard the traditional Italian pizza, specifying permissible ingredients and methods of processing (e.g., excluding frozen pizzas). Only pizzas which followed these guidelines could be called “traditional Italian pizzas”, at least in Italy.
Italy has also requested that the European Union safeguard some traditional Italian pizzas, such as “Margherita” and “marinara”. The European Union enacted a protected designation of origin system in the 1990s.
Health issues
Some pizzas can be very high in salt and fat and concerns have been raised about the negative effect these pizzas can have on people’s health. Pizza Hut has come under criticism for the high salt content of some of their meals which were found to contain more than twice the daily recommended amount of salt for an adult.
However, it should also be noted that commercially made fast food pizza is very different from well made Italian pizza, particularly from a good restaurant which is concerned with using only good ingredients, or even more so in a homemade pizza. The salt and saturated fat content of a homemade pizza is usually far less if using original recipes. Mozzarella cheese is not as fatty as many other cheeses, and should be used judiciously in any event. Feta cheese, which has an even lower saturated fat content, is often used in homemade pizza recipes. There is the added bonus of being able to include other healthy ingredients as well, such as fresh tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, rocket, spinach, courgettes (baby marrow) and eggplant, as just a few examples.
Health conscious pizzaiolos (pizza makers) are also able to substitute some of the sodium chloride (common salt) with potassium chloride, which is almost indiscernible in taste, is far healthier and has little effect on those suffering from high blood pressure.
Nutrition researchers in Europe investigating the eating habits of people suffering from cancer of the mouth, oesophagus, throat or colon, made an interesting finding with regard to eating pizza. 3,300 sufferers were questioned regarding their eating habits, and their answers compared to over 5,000 healthy respondents.
Those who ate pizza at least once a week had less chance of developing cancer, they found. Dr Silvano Gallus, of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmaceutical Research in Milan, who led the research said: "We knew that tomato sauce could offer protection against certain tumors, but we did not expect pizza as a complete meal also to offer such protective powers." Nicola O'Connor, of Cancer Research UK, told BBC News Online: "This study is interesting and the results should probably be looked at in the context of what we already know about the Mediterranean diet and its association with a lower risk of certain types of cancer.
"The secret is probably lycopene, an antioxidant chemical in tomatoes, which is thought to offer some protection against cancer, and which gives the fruit its red color.
"But before people start dialing the local pizza takeaway, they should consider that some pizzas can be high in saturated fat, salt and calories". In contrast to the classic Italian pizza used in the research, most UK pizza takeaway varieties are often loaded with high fat cheeses and fatty meats and yeast, a high intake of which can contribute to obesity, itself a risk factor for cancer. "Our advice is to enjoy selected Italian pizza (ie. healthy pizza) in moderation as part of a balanced diet that includes plenty of vegetables and fruit."
Italian Carlo La Vecchia, a Milan-based epidemiologist said Italian pizza lovers should not see the research as a license to indulge their fondness for pizza food. "There is nothing to indicate that pizza is the only thing responsible for these results." He continued: "Pizza could simply be indicative of a lifestyle and food habits, in other words the Italian version of a Mediterranean diet." A Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil, fiber, vegetables, fruit, flour and freshly cooked food - including traditional Italian healthy pizza.
Notable U.S. pizzerias and chains
- Lombardi's
- Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana
- California Pizza Kitchen
- CiCi's Pizza
- Domino's
- Gino's East
- Giordano's Pizza
- Little Caesar's
- Lou Malnati's
- Papa Gino's
- Papa Johns
- Papa Murphy's
- Pizza Hut
- Rosati's Pizza
- Sbarro
- Vocelli Pizza
- Uno Chicago Grill
Notable Canadian pizzerias and chains
Records
- The largest pizza ever made was at the Norwood Pick ’n Pay hypermarket in Johannesburg, South Africa. According to the Guinness Book of Records the pizza was 37.4 meters in diameter and was made using 500 kg of flour, 800 kg of cheese and 900 kg of tomato puree. This was accomplished on December 8, 1990.
- On March 22, 2001, Bernard Jordaan of Butler's Pizza, Cape Town, South Africa, delivered a pizza 11,042 km (6,861 mi) from Cape Town to Sydney, Australia, to set the world record for the longest pizza delivery. This record was acknowledged in the Guinness Book of Records.
- In Feltham, London, a new record for the farthest food delivery was achieved by Lucy Clough of Domino’s. A vegetarian supreme pizza was cooked on November 17, 2004 and travelled a distance of 10,532 miles (16,950 km) to its delivery point at 30 'Ramsey Street', Melbourne, on November 19, 2004. The record is in the 2006 version of the Guinness Book of Records.
- The most expensive pizza created was made by the restaurateur Domenico Crolla, who created a pizza which included toppings such as sunblush-tomato sauce, Scottish smoked salmon, medallions of venison, edible gold, lobster marinated in the finest cognac and champagne-soaked caviar. The pizza was sold at auction for charity for £2,150.
- What has been called “the world’s most extravagant pizza” is available at New York’s Nino’s Bellissima restaurant. Topped with six varieties of caviar, chives, fresh lobster and creme fraîche, this 12-inch (30 cm) pie, called the “Luxury Pizza”, retails at US$1,000.00 (or $125.00 a slice).
See also
References
- Brick Oven Cecina
- Bill for traditional Italian pizza
- Permissible ingredients and methods of processing
- Più vicina la tutela europea per la pizza, from an Italian government website
- Food Standards Agency - Survey of pizzas
- BBC NEWS | Health | Fast food salt levels 'shocking'
- Mario Negri - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche
- Mama Lena's pizza 'One' for the book...of records
- Chef cooks £2,000 Valentine pizza, BBC News.
- New York Restaurant Cooks Up $1,000 Pizza Pie, Reuters, as given by Fox News on March 15, 2007.
