pizza

In the 3 rd century, BC, the First history of Rome, written by Cato the Elder, mentions a “flat round of dough dressed with olive oil, herbs and honey baked on stone, “Placenta was a “sheet of fine flour filled with cheese and honey and flavored with bay leaves”. Further evidence is found in Pompeii, the city “frozen in time” since AD79, where archaeologists have excavated shops that closely resemble modern pizzerias though several kinds of flat bread made with flour, often cooked with oil and spices, were familiar to ancient Romans and popular in all the Mediterranean area,, they were considerably different from pizza as it is known today. The tomato was still unknown in Europe and the Indian water buffalo, whose milk is used to make the real mozzarella cheese, had not yet been imported to Campania, the area around Napoli. The crust of pizza is very similar to focaccia bread common in Italian cuisine today. For some time after the tomato was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16 th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as there are some other fruits of the nightshade family). click here for source