What is it about this (sometimes round… sometimes square… sometimes thin… sometimes thick) meal that has captured the hearts and taste buds of hungry people from around the world? Where did it come from? Why is it so popular?
And why, after five minutes of starting this blog am I already craving it?
Surprisingly, the invention of pizza did not begin with the opening of a ‘hut’, two blocks down the road. Neither was it created by a guy named Papa, Marty or Chuck. The most common belief is that pizza originated in Italy. Not a huge stretch of the imagination, considering the word ‘pizza’ is Italian for ‘pie’.
You know –‘pizza pie’.
If you go deeper, there’s plenty of history and research to indicate that pizza stretches back to the ancient Middle East; where Egyptians, Armenians and Babylonians were working with early variations of pizza using flat bread cooked in mud ovens.
We’ve since evolved from Middle Eastern olive oil and spices and have traded up for tomato sauce and a variety of cheeses. We pile on fresh vegetables, enough meat to give your primary physician pause for concern and, if you’re like my wife, tiny fish (something I will never understand).
But why is this meal consistently top of mind? Why is it that when I ask my young daughters – ‘What should we have for dinner?’ – they inevitably respond with a single word… PIZZA! And, is it strange that they say it in unison? Like an alien hive mind, communicating as a single consciousness.
Perhaps, they just really like pizza.
For starters, pizza is a great option at any time of the day, for nearly every occasion and is able to meet the needs of crowds both large and small. It has been modified over the years to accommodate for a variety of crusts and can be ordered to satisfy even the most adventurous of palates.
Pizza is the go-to order for birthday parties, sporting events and family gatherings. With some creative topping combinations, it can turn a rare, child-free evening for parents into a romantic meal for two. It’s ‘just-what-the-doctor-ordered’ after a night of celebrations and is the first choice for a late morning/early afternoon breakfast for teenagers everywhere.
It has never been a better time to be a fan of pizza. As consumers, we can grab a basic pizza that’s ready and waiting from our local pizzeria. We can place an order, pick it up and bake it fresh at home. Some restaurants offer authentic wood-fired ovens that provide a unique style and flavor, while others prefer to use specialized ovens that provide consistency and greater convenience from one pizza to the next.
It’s pretty hard to NOT find pizza on the menu, regardless of the theme or style of restaurant you may be visiting.
Probably the best thing about pizza is that there really is something for everyone. Are you team thick crust or team traditional? Do you prefer your sauce spicy or mild? Are you a meat lover or vegetarian? People of all ages will continue to debate what makes the best pizza, as they eat pizza.
But one thing we can all agree on is how important it is to protect those tasty pies, when moving them from point A to point B. It doesn’t matter if these are the few remaining pieces left over from your favorite restaurant, or a hot and fresh delivery that was placed 29 ½ minutes earlier. There’s nothing worse than cracking open a pizza box – like a child on Christmas Day, eyes wide in anticipation of something magical – only to find cheese stuck to the lid, toppings strewn about all willy-nilly and a pie that is now cold to the touch.
It is an experience that has traumatized men, women and children; leaving them a shell of their former selves.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Tears of heartbreak no longer will be shed. In a time when delivery and carry-out orders continue to rise exponentially, packaging truly is king. Thankfully, innovations within the food-packaging industry have significantly altered this experience for both consumers and restaurant owners alike.
Moving well past paper sleeves, pizza boxes have changed over the years to better accommodate for a fresher and tastier experience. Ventilation holes, when used properly, address excessive steam build-up that can result in soggy crust and a quicker breakdown of the box’s material. Other packaging options are lined with aluminum-coated polyester that better manages and maintains the temperature of the pizza.
At the end of the day, we all want the same thing – our favorite pizza, fresh and hot out of the oven (but not too hot that you burn the roof of your mouth from overexcitement and impatience; we’ve all been there). It’s a meal that brings together friends and family and will continue to do so for generations to come.
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