Pizza: A Global History (Edible)

Pizza: A Global History (Edible)

Carol Helstosky

Language: English

Pages: 128

ISBN: 1861893914

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


You can pick Chicago deep dish, Sicilian, or New York-style; pan crust or thin crust; anchovies or pepperoni. There are countless ways to create the dish called pizza, as well as a never-ending debate on the best way of cooking it. Now Carol Helstosky documents the fascinating history and cultural life of this chameleon-like food in Pizza.
Originally a food for the poor in eighteenth-century Naples, the pizza is a source of national and regional pride as well as cultural identity in Italy, Helstosky reveals. In the twentieth century, the pizza followed Italian immigrants to America, where it became the nation’s most popular dish and fueled the rise of successful fast-food corporations such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s. Along the way, Helstosky explains, pizza has been adapted to local cuisines and has become a metaphor for cultural exchange. Pizza also features several recipes and a wealth of illustrations, including a photo of the world’s largest and most expensive pizza—sprinkled with edible 24-karat gold shavings and costing over $4000.  
 
Whether you love sausage and onions on your pizza or unadorned cheese, Pizza has enough offerings to satiate even the pickiest of readers.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

one’s homeland as well as a way to earn a living. And for non-Italians, pizza was both an ethnic food and a blank canvas, open to all forms of culinary experimentation. As new groups of people embraced pizza, they adapted it to suit their own tastes or ideas about a good meal or snack. Although it was frequently introduced to people as a typical Italian food, pizza became the gastronomic thermometer of the markets of the world, incorporating such unlikely ingredients as mustard, kiwi fruit and

various Italian regions and the restaurant has taken a serious interest in pledging some of its profits to a foundation to save the city of Venice. The fact that PizzaExpress changes its menus frequently and employs pizza chefs to assemble the pizzas out of fresh ingredients makes it less of a fast-food experience than other chains but, nevertheless, hundreds of PizzaExpress restaurants offer customers the same experience. Although the prices are relatively low, PizzaExpress makes the experience

serving. Fried Pizza Dough Neapolitans, southern Italians and Italian-Americans all make some version of fried pizza. In Naples, little fried pizzas can be eaten plain or covered with tomato sauce and cheese, then folded over. In Calabria, Italy, little potato pizzas called cullurelli are made for Christmas Eve: this is done by adding mashed potatoes (two medium-sized potatoes, boiled then run through a food mill or processor) to the dough. In the United States, fried pizza dough was a popular

After chilling the dough, preheat the oven to 190ºc (375ºf). Divide the dough into two parts and roll it out on a floured board. Cut with a biscuit cutter or cut into wedges and place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush the biscuits lightly with olive oil. Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. 126 References Introduction 1 See Alexandre Dumas, Le Corricolo (Paris, 2001), p. 94. 2 See Hugh Levinson, ‘Making Pizza for Kim Jong-il’, BBC News Online (12 August 2004). 3

consumed outside the home. By contrast, Italians spent slightly more of their food budget, 6.2 per cent, on tobacco.11 This pattern began to change in the 1970s as more Italians ate meals and – perhaps more importantly – snacks outside the home. Certain cities and regions developed their own variations on pizza, making the most of local ingredients or consumer preferences. Roman pizza, for example, is known for its cracker-thin crust, while in Molise, pizza e fuie has a crust made with corn flour

Download sample

Download