Pizza

"Naples is the birthplace of pizza where by most accounts it took its modern form in the , without es—which, though they were first imported to southern Italy in the , probably didn't make it onto pizzas until the . Establishing firm timelines for specific revolutionary steps in pizza history (or for any other food that began as a ) is difficult."

"Here's my basic philosophy for pizza. The more substantial the pizza and its , the heartier the . So, for a big or a thick-crust , I'll go with a chunkier, more gutsy sauce. For a classic , I'll use a thinner sauce. You might think the gold standard for pizza sauce is fresh tomatoes simmering away for hours. I've got nothing against this idea, assuming you can start with outstanding tomatoes. But the fact is that no matter where you live, truly great fresh tomatoes are pretty hard to come by most of the year. It might surprise you to learn that most pizza sauces, including most of the sauces I use in my restaurant, are made from canned tomatoes and tomato products (like crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce) that are simply combined, maybe lightly seasoned and blended with a little , and then used just like that—no cooking involved. In other words, they're not like a typical red sauce for pasta."

"In 1835, French author, , and culinary expert Alexandre Dumas travelled to Naples, Italy where he observed the customs and life of the Neapolitan poor. His published work, ‘’’’ (1843), described the infamous lazzaroni of the city, so named because their ragged appearance evoked images of . Dumas declared that the lazzaroni submitted on two foods: watermelon in the summer and pizza in the winter. In describing pizza for his readers Dumas wrote that, at first, it appeared to be a very simple thing: the poor and the working classes ate with various toppings for breakfast, or . Pizza was a kind of bread, but it was not purchased whole; rather, customers bought the size they could afford. There were also many varieties of pizza for sale: pizza with oil, pizza with lard, pizza with es, pizza with tiny fish, pizza with cheese. The variety and popularity of toppings told Dumas more than just what the lazzaroni liked. The ingredients of a pizza told him about the cost and availability of certain foods in Naples."