Its National Pizza Day and to celebrate we will be looking at the doughy and cheesy history of Pizza.
A staple food in many diets around the world, pizza has conquered more countries than the great crusaders.
Coming in a large range of crust styles and toppings, no matter your style, you can be sure that there is a pizza for you.
If you are wanting to spoil yourself, go nuts and order the stuffed crust, but for those on a diet, the skinny pizza is emerging in popularity. If you have not yet heard of the skinny pizza, the skinny pizza consists of an ultra-thin crust the size of a thin wafer with the topping of your choice on top.
As the times have changed and developed, so has the style of pizza. No longer is it just tomato, mozzarella and basil, flavours from African countries can be merged with this Italian classic, creating a pizza with a hot, Cajun chicken topping.
Even companies such as Dominos are getting bored with the classic pizza, choosing to give it a makeover and cover it with chocolate to create the ‘chocolate pizza’.
So where did the the pizza originate from? It is believed that the first versions of the pizza as we know it started off as a form of flatbread with an added topping. This idea of adding a topping to flatbread was popular back in the time of the Romans and was referred to as Panis focacius.
The arrival of the modern pizza that we are a huge fan of was developed in Naples around the end of the 18th century. The discovery of the modern pizza was formed when tomato was added to the top of the flatbread focaccia.
Pizza, a truly Italian dish has been a favourite of Italians and by emigrants from Italy for hundreds of years, yet it wasn’t until the end of WW2 that those soldiers who had been stationed in Italy were able to share their new favourite food.
With the war over and soldiers who had survived returning home, they were able to share with loved ones their experiences and their discovery of the intense flavours that is pizza.
With the ingredients, flour, yeast, sugar, salt and water and you have the world at your fingertips allowing you to create a truly personalised concoction of toppings galore.
When it comes to pizza, it is no longer just about which toppings you choose, but more importantly the type of crust you prefer.
To embrace National Pizza Day, why not get experimental and creative with the Dexam Pizza Set, or have a go making our ultra-healthy recipe, cauliflower flatbread with asparagus and courgette, allowing you to have a delicious pizza minus all the carbs.
No matter your style of pizza, be sure to keep this National Pizza Day extra cheesy.