Pizza

Pizza is unquestionably one of the most famous dishes around the world. A basic pizza is simply a flat oven baked bread covered with some sort of tomato sauce and cheese. A pizza is so simple, yet so intricate. Pizza has gained such popularity around the world due to its ease of preparation, minimal ingredients, and versatility that allows for an endless amount of toppings. A pizza can be made to the taste of each individual by adding favorite combinations of toppings ranging such as vegetables and meat to create the perfect custom pizza. The pizza has gained status as a popular food found in upscale restaurants, local pizzerias, pizzeria chains. Additionally, pizza has become a favorite home meal, with supermarkets offering an array of stocked pizzas on their shelves. A pizza is really a phenomenal food.

The pizza is clearly one of the most consumed foods. In fact last year people in the United States ordered more than 5.5 billion pizzas, according to the market research company NPD Group. The pizza was ordered more than any other restaurant item after burgers and fries.

The history of Pizza around the world is complex and not concrete, and its origins can even be traced back to ancient Greeks and other Mediterranean areas later on. Webster's dictionary says the word Pizza came from the Greek "pitta" for cake. The world's first pizzeria is believed to have opened in Naples in 1830, although street vendors may have sold it for years before that. However the history of modern Pizza in the United States goes back to the Italian immigration waves in the 19th century. Local Italian communities in large cities such as Chicago, New York City and San Francisco began selling pizzas on the street. The first pizza was ordered sometime around 1905, when Gennaro Lombardi is credited with opening the first licensed pizzeria in the United States, at 53 Spring Street in Little Italy in lower Manhattan, New York. Mr. Lombardi arrived from Naples, Italy where pizza as we know it was born.

Throughout history, many cultures learned to bake flat breads with something tasty on top. But only southern Italy had rich, creamy buffalo-milk mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes, the key ingredients for Neapolitan pizza, the progenitor of every slice now sold in the United States.

True Neapolitan pizza has a light, chewy crust, which may surprise those used to the crunch of brick-oven pizza in America. That crunch, born in the pizza pioneer Mr. Lombardi's oven, has lived on at pizzerias that were set up by his apprentices such as in John's in Greenwich Village, Totonno's in Coney Island, and Patsy's in East Harlem.

Such old-style pizzerias use ovens completely lined with stone or brick. Wood or coal fires achieve temperatures of more than 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The best pizzerias make their own dough by hand each day, top it with fresh mozzarella (typically cow's milk), the best crushed tomatoes and little else. The pies emerge with the cheese oozing, the sauce fragrant and the crust crisp and evenly cooked.

But like so many things in the United States, pizza became all-American when it became easily mass produced in a less messy environment. As Ed Levine wrote in the Dining section of The New York Times in 2004, pizzerias sprouted up in the 1950s after gas-fueled steel ovens eliminated the need to build brick ones, and heavy-duty commercial mixers let almost anyone produce a plethora of dough.

With those ovens, which reach only about 600 or 650 degrees, producing a heavier crust, and with rubbery commercial "mozzarella'' replacing the real stuff, these pizza stands created a more durable pie, one that could be sold by the slice. This became what the average American recognized as pizza, with regional differences.

But in the mid 1990's a new generation has revived pizza back to its roots. Gennaro Lombardi's grandson helped open a new Lombardi's pizza down the street from the first one, and the Patsy's chain began turning out traditional- style pies with high-temperature gas ovens. Pizzaioli like Chris Bianco in Phoenix and Anthony Mangieri at Una Pizza Napoletano in Manhattan see pizza making as a calling. Mr. Mangieri has spelled out his passion: "There is too much pride behind this pizzeria — its life, heart, and passion — to offer anything less. It is Neapolitan, it is love.''

Across major cities of the United States, regional pizzas have developed such as New York Style Pizza, New Haven Style Pizza, Greek Pizza of New England, Chicago Style Pizza, Chicago-style thin-crust pizza, St. Louis-style pizza, California-style pizza, Hawaiian pizza, and Hawaiian Pizza.

The New York-style pizza is one of the most famous pizzas in the country, as it is a style originally developed in New York City by Italian immigrants from Naples. It is often sold in generously sized, thin and flexible slices. It is traditionally hand-tossed, moderate on sauce, and moderately covered with cheese essentially equivalent to a much bigger version of the Neapolitan style. The slices are sometimes consumed folded in half, or even stacked, as its size and flexibility may otherwise make it unmanageable to eat by hand. The New York Style Pizza tends to dominate the Northeastern states, and is very similar to the basic style common through the United States and known simply as pizza. Many pizzerias in the New York metropolitan area offer two varieties of pizza: "Neapolitan", or "regular", made with a relatively thin, circular crust and served in wedge-shaped slices, and "Sicilian", or "square", made with a thicker, rectangular crust and served in large, rectangular slices.

Here is a list of common toppings added to create the ultimate and personalized pizza; Pepperoni, Sausage, Spicy Italian Sausage, Ham, Hickory-Smoked Bacon, Grilled All. White Chicken, Fresh-Sliced Onions, Fresh-Sliced Green Peppers, Baby Portabella Mushrooms, Fresh-Sliced Roma Tomatoes, Black Olives, Sweet Pineapple, Extra Cheese. Such choices give the costumer a custom pizza eating experience.

In the United States, the fast food industry has quickly capitalized on the rising popularity of pizza. Overall, more than 60 pizza chains operate across the United States, many of which operate as restaurants serving Italian cuisine, incorporating pizzas as a favorite dish. Some popular pizza chains that originated in the United States and expanded internationally include Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut, Papa John's Pizza, and Chuck E. Cheese's. As with local pizzerias, these large restaurant chains signature services and features guarantee fast delivery of hot and fresh pizzas. Additionally, in today's internet boom, these pizza chains offer deliveries to be placed online on the company websites. And the last factor of pizzas is price of course, which can cost a few dollars for a good slice of pizza with yummy toppings.