Pizza Is A Relatively Healthy Food
Americans love their pizza! In fact, they appear to love pizza more than any other food.
It is the first choice for lunch and for dinner for those who are under the age of 11 years. The primary consumer group of pizza, though, actually is aged 18 to 34 years. Even in the over-50 market, pizza ranks now second only to chicken as the most popular takeout food.
How much pizza do we consume? Americans now eat more than 100 acres of pizza each day. That amounts to three billion pizzas per year, or to emphasize the point more dramatically, more than 350 pieces of pizza per second! That translates to about 2 pounds of pizza a month for every man, woman and child in the United States. Pizza sales exceed $32 billion a year. Most pizza is sold at quick-service takeout establishments, generating more than $25 billion in yearly revenues. Frozen pizzas make up the bulk of the remaining market.
With an ever faster paced “on-the-go” society, there is no end in sight. Pizza sales, at an increase of 11 percent annually, outpace the rate of growth of all other food items. If the food industry can ever bridge the significant quality gap between frozen and carryout pizza, sales of pizza through supermarkets will explode.
Pizza appears to have originated independently from two historically nearby cultures. From the Levant area of Asia Minor, the ancient Etruscans were baking crude bread beneath the stones of their fires. As a side dish, these breads were seasoned and then dipped in broths and gravies. The Etruscans carried this practice into what is now northern Italy by the late Stone Age.
Somewhat later, ancient Greeks settling in the south of Italy cooked flat, round breads, which were called “plakuntos,” in a similar manner, adding flavorings, including meats, vegetables and fruits as toppings. These preparations served as the main meal. Later on, the Romans brought the best of the north and the south together, seasoning their flat breads with olive oil, garlic, herbs and onions, as well as other toppings, including potatoes.
In the 7th century A.D., water buffalo were brought from India to Italy. The milk of the water buffalo was used to make true mozzarella cheese, which soon found its way onto the pizza breads.
The tomato, a new World native, was brought back to Spain by the early explorers and introduced into Italy in 1522. The earliest tomatoes were yellow, the “d’oro” or “golden apples,” grown mostly as an ornamental food. Thought for years to be poisonous, the tomato was not much utilized as a food until the mid-18th century.
Pizzas became a very popular food, especially among the poor, in Naples in the 17th century. The bakers who made pizzas were called “pizzaioli.” In 1889, Raffaele Esposito, perhaps now the most famous of the pizzaioli, created a pizza for Queen Margherita, using tomato, basil and cheese to depict the red, green and yellow of the Italian flag. The Queen loved the pizza and her endorsement led to its acceptance by those other than the poor.
Pizza is defined as “a baked pie of Italian origin consisting of a shallow bread-like crust covered with seasoned tomato sauce, cheese and often other toppings, such as sausage or olives.” Indeed, the toppings are limited only by the imagination.
The word “pizza” probably evolved from “picea,” as a southern Italian corruption of the Latin word used to describe the charred coating of burning ashes left by the early stone fire ovens.
The first pizza shop opened in Naples, as the Port ‘Alba, in 1830. Eventually, pizza stalls sprang up throughout the city, as pizza was consumed at breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as in between meals.
Italian immigrants brought their love for pizza to this country with them during the massive migration that ushered in the 20th century. In 1905, the first pizzeria in the United States opened in New York.
By 1920, pizzerias could be found throughout most of the Northeast. Pizza did not become popular, however, until after World War II, as GI soldiers returning from campaigns in Italy told of this “new” food.
The first “Chicago style” pan pizza was introduced by Pizza Uno in 1943; today, pan pizzas constitute over one-fifth of all pizzas sold.
Pizzas recipes first appeared in cookbooks in 1950. For whatever reason, the popularity of pizza soared in this century in the 1950s and 1960s. Introduced in 1957, frozen pizza has become the singularly most popular frozen food now sold.
Today, true pizzaioli are hard to find, as the mass production of pizza has caused them to be replaced by suppliers of bulk dough and other ingredients delivered in large quantities.
Bovine milk mozzarella has replaced that made from the milk of water buffalo, and sweet marjoram has taken the place of oregano. One out of every six restaurants in the United States now makes pizza.
Is pizza healthy? The United States government considers in one of the few readily available “complete foods,” meeting all of the food pyramid requirements in a single serving.
A “serving” of pizza is considered to be two-to-six slices. Most individuals eat a quarter to a third of a 14 inch pizza at one sitting. Such a serving will deliver 12 to 20 or more grams of saturated fat, depending on the topping, or more than half the daily total recommended dietary intake. Usually such a “serving” will also deliver 600 to over a thousand calories, and 1,500 to 2,800 milligrams of salt. Specific nutrient deliveries depend on the topping and sauces employed.
All in all, except for the calories, high fat content and salt, pizza is quite nutritious. You can make it even healthier by using some care in selecting the toppings.
Clearly, pizza will remain a highly popular food, quickly available at low cost, and with a nearly limitless variety of tastes and textures.
FAQ
Search Forums
Log in
Register
