Pizza or Pizza Pie is the name of an oven-baked, flat, usually round bread covered with tomato sauce and cheese with optional toppings, or a savory pie with similar ingredients.

The cheese is usually mozzarella (the traditional Neapolitan pizza uses buffalo mozzarella or fior di latte) or sometimes a mixture of several cheeses such as parmesan,  Romano,  ricotta or, particularly

in the USA, Monterey Jack. Various other toppings may be added, most typically:

• herbs and seasonings such as basil, oregano, and garlic
• vegetables such as bell peppers, asparagus, eggplant, broccoli, spinach, olives, onions, and artichoke hearts
• meat or fish products such as sausage, (especially pepperoni or salami), ham, bacon, ground beef, anchovies, chicken, tuna, and shrimp
• Other common toppings include mushroom and tomato

The crust is traditionally plain, but may also be seasoned with butter, garlic, or herbs, or stuffed with cheese. In some pizza recipes the tomato sauce is omitted (termed "white pizza"), or replaced with another sauce (usually garlic butter but can be sauces made with spinach or onions). Pizza is normally eaten hot (typically at lunch or dinner), but leftovers are often eaten cold for breakfast or as a snack.

Piza or pissa is late Vulgar Latin (9th century) flat bread, and apparently came to mean a flat bread with a cheese topping by the 14th century in some Italian dialects. Pizzo, which means point in Italian, may have been an influence. Many languages around the Mediterranean have similar words meaning flat bread or unleavened bread, see pita. The Italian word for a person with talent for making pizza is pizzaiolo. A restaurant that serves pizza is called a pizzeria (from Italian); the phrase "pizza parlor" is also used in the United States. Pizza can also be purchased in grocery stores or supermarkets (usually, but not always, frozen); in many countries, pizza can also be ordered by telephone (or, increasingly, via the Web) to be delivered, hot and ready to eat, to almost any address within range of the restaurant. The first pizzeria established in the United States was Lombardi's in New York.

Pizza, a local food item originated from a small region of Italy, has become popular throughout the world, and is now a symbol of cultural globalization.

Crusts and baking methods
Pizza may be baked with a thin bread bottom (Italian or "hand-tossed" style) or with thicker bread (pan pizza, or American pizza).

The crust can be very thick as in Chicago-style pizza or almost non-existent as in the Naples pizza. Some pizzas are now made with a cheese-filled crust.

In restaurants, pizza can be baked in a gas canister (stone bricks above the heat source) oven, an electric deck oven, a conveyor belt oven or, in the case of more expensive restaurants, a wood- or coal-fired brick oven. On deck ovens, the pizza can be slid into the oven on a long paddle called a peel and baked directly on the hot bricks or baked on a screen (a round metal pan that has holes in it like a screen). When making pizza at home, it can be baked on a "pizza stone" in a regular oven to imitate the effect of a brick oven. Another option is grilled pizza, in which the crust is baked directly on a barbecue grill. Greek pizza, like Chicago-style pizza, is baked in a pan rather than directly on the bricks of the pizza oven.

In home-made pizza, there are many variations on the bread used for crust. In some countries, creations such as pita pizza, bagel pizza, and tortilla pizza are popular, especially with children. In Japan, where full-size ovens are a rarity in the home, pizza toast is a popular version. In Australia, Domino's Pizza has introduced the "Puffection" pizza, featuring puff pastry as base.

The sauce
Pizza is often broadly divided into "red" and "white" pizzas, which respectively do and do not contain tomatoes and several other spices. Of the red pizzas, the most common form of tomato topping is a thick, smooth tomato sauce known generically as "tomato paste", which differs from tomato sauces used for pasta in containing less water, reducing the likelihood of a soggy crust. In the most typical style of pizza, the sauce is swirled on in a thin layer using a ladle or similar type of large spoon, with toppings placed on the top. With some forms of pizza, particularly deep-dish, this is inverted, with the cheese and toppings placed directly on the dough and the sauce ladled over the top. Original neapolitan pizzas use only raw, sliced tomatoes.

It is not uncommon to use a raw tomato sauce or tomato puree (usually made from canned tomatoes) and fresh herbs such as basil. Similarly, diced or ground tomatoes are often used more or less straight on deep-dish pizza. In both cases, the tomatoes are cooked by the high temperatures of the oven. Some otherwise "white" pizzas also use thinly sliced fresh tomatoes as a topping.

Frozen pizza
Pizza is also found in supermarkets as a frozen food. Considerable amounts of food technology ingenuity has gone into the creation of palatable frozen pizza. The main challenges include preventing the sauce from combining with the dough and producing a crust that can be frozen and reheated without becoming rigid. Modified

corn starch is commonly used as a moisture barrier between the sauce and crust. Traditionally the dough is somewhat pre-baked and other ingredients are also sometimes pre-cooked.

More recently, frozen pizza with completely raw ingredients have also begun to appear, as have those with a rising-crust.

Italian and European law
Despite the simplicity of the ingredients used in a Neapolitan pizza, the most authentic versions are made with local ingredients:

• San Marzano tomatoes, which grow on the volcanic plains in the south of Vesuvio,
• Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, made with the milk from water buffalo raised in the marshlands of Campania and Latium in a semi-wild state; this mozzarella is protected with its own European Protected designation of origin.

In Italy there is a bill before Parliament to safeguard the traditional Italian pizza, specifying permissible ingredients and methods of processing (e.g. excluding frozen pizzas). Only pizzas which followed these guidelines could be called "traditional Italian pizzas", at least in Italy.

Italy has also requested that the European Union safeguard some traditional Italian pizzas, such as "margherita" and "marinara". This is part of an ongoing trend within Europe, preventing the names of regional foods being commercially exploited. It is illegal to have any pizza without basil and oregano.

Types of pizza
In recent years, pizza has become an international food and the toppings can be extensively varied to meet local variations in taste. These pizzas consist of the same basic design but include an exceptionally diverse choice of ingredients, such as anchovies, egg, pineapple, coconut, sauerkraut, eggplant, kim-chi, lamb, couscous, chicken, fish, and shellfish, meats done in ethnic styles such as Moroccan lamb, shawarma or even chicken tikka masala (India) , and non-traditional spices such as curry and Thai sweet chili. Pizzas can also be made without meat for vegetarians, and without cheese for vegans. Breakfast pizzas are topped with ingredients such as scrambled eggs. "Supreme" pizzas typically include a thick layer of many different toppings.

Pizza styles

• Italian pizza:
• A "supreme" pizza includes many different toppings, such as pepperoni, green peppers, olives, and mushrooms.Neapolitan pizza (pizza Napoletana). According to the rules proposed by the Associazione vera pizza napoletana and other sources quoted by the BBC, and the legal EU document with the Vera Pizza Napoletana Specification in translation, the genuine Neapolitan pizza dough consists of Italian wheat flour (type 0 and/or 00), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast, and water. For proper results, strong flour with high protein content (as used for bread-making rather than cakes) must be used. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer. After the rising process, the dough must be formed by hand without the help of a rolling pin or other mechanical device, and may be no more than 3 mm (1/8 in) thick. The pizza must be baked for 60–90 seconds in a 485 °C (905 °F) stone oven with an oak-wood fire. When cooked, it should be soft and fragrant. Neapolitan pizza has also gained in Italy the status of "guaranteed traditional speciality". This admits only three official variants:
• Pizza marinara: with tomato, garlic, oregano and oil;
• Pizza Margherita: tomato, mozzarella in fillets, basil and oil;
• Pizza Margherita Extra: tomato, buffalo mozzarella from Campania in fillets, basil and oil.
• Lazio style: Pizza in Lazio ( Rome), as well as in many other parts of Italy is available in 2 different "flavours": 1) In take-away shops so-called "Pizza Rustica" or "Pizza a Taglio". Pizza is cooked in long, rectangular baking pans and relatively thick (1-2 cm). The crust similar to that of an English muffin and mostly cooked in an electric oven. When purchased, it is usually cut with scissors or knife and priced by weight. 2) In Pizza Restaurants (Pizzerie), where it is served in a dish in its traditional round shape, it features a very thin crust compared to Neapolitan recipe. It is mostly cooked in a wood-fired oven which gives pizza its unique flavour and texture. In Rome a "Pizza Napoletana" is topped with tomato, mozzarella, anchovies and oil (thus, what in Naples is called "Pizza Romana", in Rome is called "Pizza Napoletana"). Strangely enough, there is no "Pizza Napoletana" in Naples and no "Pizza Romana" in Rome.
• Pizza Romana (in Naples): tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, oregano, oil;
• Pizza Viennese: tomato, mozzarella, German sausage, oregano, oil;
• Pizza with Ham and Mushrooms: tomato, mozzarella, ham, mushrooms;
• Pizza Capricciosa ("Capricious Pizza"): mozzarella, tomato, mushrooms, artichokes, cooked ham, olives, oil (in Rome raw ham is used and half a hard-boiled egg is added;
• Pizza Quattro Stagioni ("Four Seasons Pizza"): same ingredients for the Capricciosa, but ingredients not mixed;
• Four Cheeses Pizza "Pizza quattro formaggi"): tomato, mozzarella, other cheeses;
• Sicilian-style pizza has its toppings baked directly into the crust. An authentic recipe uses neither cheese nor anchovies. Sicilian Pizza in the United States is typically a different variety of product made with a thick crust characterized by a rectangular shape and topped with tomato sauce and cheese (and optional toppings). Pizza Hut's Sicilian Pizza, introduced in 1994, is not an authentic example of the style as only garlic, basil, and oregano are mixed into the crust.
• White pizza (pizza bianca) uses no tomato sauce, often substituting pesto or dairy products such as sour cream. Most commonly, the toppings consist only of mozzarella and ricotta cheese. In Rome, the term pizza bianca refers to a type of bread topped only with olive oil.
• Similar dishes:
• "Farinata" or "cecina" . A Ligurian (it:farinata) and Tuscan (cecina) regional dish made from chickpea flour, water, salt and olive oil. Also called Socca in the Provence region of France. Often baked in a brick oven, and typically weighed and sold by the slice.
• The Alsacian tarte flambée (German: Flammekueche) is a thin disc of dough covered in crème fraîche, onions, and bacon.
• The Anatolian Lahmacun (Arabic: lahma bi ajeen; Armenian: lahmajoun; also Armenian pizza or Turkish pizza) is a meat-topped dough round. The bread is usually very thin; the layer of meat often includes chopped vegetables.
• The Provençal pissaladiere is similar to an Italian pizza, with a slightly thicker crust and generally a topping of cooked onions, anchovies, and olives.
• Calzone and stromboli are very similar dishes (calzone is traditionally half-moon-shaped, while a stromboli is tube-shaped) that are often made of pizza dough rolled or folded around a filling.
• Pizza is sometimes used as a general word for a savory pie; the Campanian pizza rustica and the Italian American pizzagiena (Easter pie) are examples of this more general sense.

Variations worldwide  

• In Argentina: Pizzas have no more than two toppings, and lots of mozzarella cheese, usually 250 g per pizza (32 cm diameter)
• In Scotland, a "pizza supper" commonly sold in fish and chip shops consists of a portion of chips (french fries) and a frozen pizza which has been deep fried rather than baked. This is often known as a "pizza crunch", and the pizza may also be coated in batter.
• In Canada, the topping combination of back bacon, pepperoni and mushrooms is called 'Canadian Pizza' . In Quebec, the same topping combination is called a 'Québécois Pizza'. A pizza with mushrooms, pepperoni, and green bell pepper is referred to as "all-dressed". Also available in Canada are donair pizzas. These pizzas come with donair ingredients (cheese, spiced meat, sometimes onions and tomatoes) and have the tomato sauce replaced by donair sauce. Also in Canada the "Punjabi Style" pizza is popular. With the Punjabi Style pizza the main ingredient added is hot peppers. The most popular is the Vegetarian pizza made Punjabi Style with mushroom, onion, green pepper and fresh tomato with the addition of the hot peppers. A new trend in Canada is dipping the pizza into a variety of sauces e.g. salad dressings like Ranch Dressing.
• In Australia, a commonly sold style is the Aussie pizza, which is topped with ham, bacon, cheese and egg. "Hawaiian pizza" (ham and pineapple) is the most popular topping combination in Australia, accounting for 20 percent of all sales. In "barbecue pizza," barbecue sauce is poured on top of the cheese, with usually a meat such as chicken or beef. Bases are often offered in both thin or thick (pan), although pan is not nearly as thick as a Chicago pan pizza, being 2-3cm at most. There is no set style regarding a crispy or flexible base - it usually varies shop by shop or even by which chef is on shift in a particular shop. Starting in the mid 1990's a moderate number of gourmet pizza restaurants opened across the country, although the traditional individually owned pizzeria and the major chains (Pizza Hut and Domino's) still outnumber them by far. Most Australian pizzerias use gas or electric ovens although wood fired ovens have become a major feature of the more expensive 'gourmet' pizza restaurants mentioned above.
• In Japan, pizza toppings may include corn, diced potatoes, scrambled eggs, mayonnaise, Camembert cheese, curry sauce, and various kinds of seafood. Tabasco sauce is often used as a condiment. Salad pizza, a pizza topped with tossed salad, is occasionally seen. Another variation is rice pizza, substituting baked rice for the crust. Squid ink is also occastionally used in lieu of traditional tomato sauce. The Japanese dish okonomiyaki is occasionally referred to in English as "Japanese pizza", although its ingredients, preparation method, and taste are substantially different from traditional pizza.
• In South Korea, kimchi and bulgogi are used as toppings, as well as many of the toppings used in Japan. In addition, sweet potato puree in a circular ring near the edge of the crust is very popular. Tabasco sauce is often used as a condiment to cater to Koreans' general love for spicy flavor.
• In Hong Kong, Pizza Hut customers may choose to have their pizzas dressed with Thousand Island dressing instead of tomato sauce.
• In Mexico, pizza is often enjoyed dipped in ketchup and/or hot sauce. Some pizzas include ingredients such as beans, beef, poblano pepper, jalapeño pepper, corn nibblets, chorizo, onion, etc.
• In Pakistan, Pizza toppings can have chunks of 'Chicken Tikka' and a super spicy variation with lots of 'Tandoori Masala'. Also, eating Ketchup with Pizza is very common. Many pizzarias also make their pizzas in brick ovens for the crispier crust.
• In India, pizza toppings include vegetables and other traditional sauces or chunks of tandoori chicken or paneer (cottage cheese). Also Indians like to have a large quantity of toppings on their pizza.
• In Iran, pizza is sometimes eaten with ketchup. The film Crimson Gold, the story of a disgruntled pizza deliveryman, confirmed to many international filmgoers the existence of pizza in Iran. Pizza restaurants were often opened by expatriates returning home from the United States who had developed a taste for it there. At the end of July 2006 it was reported that "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the language, such as 'pizzas' which will now be known as 'elastic loaves,' state media reported Saturday."
• In Brazil, especially São Paulo city, pizzas are one of the most profitable items of Brazilian food industry. Among them are traditional Neapolitan style pizzas (brought by Italian immigrants) and sort of "new style" pizzas with chocolate and fruits (banana possibly being the most common), among other toppings. It is so important for the city economics that a Pizza Day (July 10) was instituted, with Pizza Championship being one of the most important events of the day, showing new recipes. One of the products of such championship was the border filling with catupiry cheese. Pizza must also be eaten with a knife and a fork; to do otherwise is considered to be bad table manners. Except in Pizza Hut and other pizza franchises, most pizzerias cook the pizzas on a wooden oven, even the small ones. While outside the city of São Paulo it is common to use condiments such as ketchup on a pizza, it is almost considered rude in São Paulo, where the most traditional Italian pizza is made.
• In Sweden the Kebab pizza is a popular choice. It is usually topped with tomato sauce, cheese, kebab meat, mushrooms and onions. After being baked, green peppers and kebab sauce is added. The sauce is white (with or without garlic), red (more or less hot), or (most commonly) a mix of red and white. Another popular pick is the beef tenderloin with bearnaise sauce topping and it is often one of the most luxurious pizzas on the menu.
• In China, pizza is relatively rare. However, with the expansion of Pizza Hut into China's larger cities, pizza is rapidly gaining approval and popularity.
• In Taiwan, pizza is typically made with ingredients as varied as peach slices and corn, beans, pears, and beef.
• In the United Kingdom, pizza is most readily available in supermarkets as fresh pizza. The supermarket chain ASDA handmakes its pizza to order, although many people choose to make their own pizza in their own homes. Ready-made pizza bases for topping at home are widely available, as are packets of bread mix specially suited for making pizza dough. There are too many popular toppings to actually document.
• In Ghana, pizza is widely available and is served at many restaurants.
• In Kenya, the recently introduced 'cheese-free' variety has been a fantastic success with its inhabitants, especially amongst the Kikuyu.
• In Sudan, national efforts in funding and diplomacy have been made in order to make pizza (pronounced available at public restaurants. Currently, pizza can be obtained from certain cafes in private clubs, or via the black market.
• In the Netherlands, pizza is often hot and spicy.

U.S. styles and specialties

• Due to the wide influence of Italian and Greek immigrants in American culture, the United States has developed quite a large number of regional forms of pizza, many bearing only a casual resemblance to the Italian original. During the latter half of the 20th century, pizza in the United States became an iconic dish of considerable popularity, and may have contributed to the decline of the British pie heritage previously common in American cuisine.
• New York-style pizza is a style originally developed in New York City, where pizza is often sold in oversized, thin and flexible slices. It is traditionally hand-tossed, moderate on sauce, and moderately covered with cheese essentially amounting to a much larger version of the Neapolitan style. The slices are sometimes eaten folded in half, as its size and flexibility may otherwise make it unwieldy to eat by hand. This style of 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. It is often refered to as pan-style pizza, but note that Pizza Hut's "Pan Pizza" is a thick-crust variety. Many pizza establishments in the New York metropolitan area offer two varieties of pizza: "Neapolitan", or "round", 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.
• Chicago-style pizza, or Chicago-style deep dish pizza, contains a crust which is formed up the sides of a deep-dish pan. It reverses the order of ingredients, using crust, cheese, filling, then sauce on top. Some versions (usually referred to as "stuffed") have two layers of crust with the sauce on top. Deep-dish pizza was purportedly invented and first served in 1943 at Pizzeria Uno, which is still operating along with its twin restaurant, Pizzeria Due, in the River North neighborhood.
• Chicago-style thin crust pizza has a thinner crust than Chicago-style deep dish, and is baked flat rather than in a deep dish pan. The crust is is crispier than the New York style, and Chicago-style thin crust pizzas are typically cut into three- or four-inch squares instead of the pie-like wedges. The small size of the squares makes it unnecessary to fold the slices. Chicago-style thin crust pizza is generally heavy on cheese and toppings and is often seasoned with more oregano than other styles. Sauces tend to have a sweetness to them, some more noticeably than others. Chicago-style pizza is prevalent throughout the midwestern USA.
• St. Louis-style pizza is a variation of the Chicago-style thin crust pizza. The most notable characteristic of St. Louis-style pizza is the distinctive use of provel cheese instead of (or rarely in addition to) the mozzarella common to Chicago-style thin crust. Imo's is the most popular destination for St. Louis style pizza and may have originated it.
• California-style pizza (often termed in the United States gourmet pizza) refers to pizza with non-traditional ingredients, especially those that use a considerable amount of fresh produce. Barbecue sauce is sometimes a substitute for tomato sauce.
• Greek pizza is a variation popular in New England. It has a thicker, chewier crust and is baked in a pan in the pizza oven, instead of directly on the bricks. Plain olive oil is a common part of the topping. This type of pizza is typically found in a "House of Pizza". Some people doubt that this a true style of pizza, but those people are fools.
• Hawaiian pizza has Canadian bacon and pineapple toppings and is especially popular in the Western United States. Ham and pineapple is also a popular topping combination in Australia, but notably not in Hawaii. This type is also common within the EU as Pizza Hawaii.
• Grilled pizza, invented in Providence, Rhode Island, uses a fairly thin crust cooked on a grill; the toppings are placed on the baked side after the pizza has cooked for a bit and flipped over.
• English muffin or French bread pizza and pizza bagel is a common convenience pizza made at home in an oven or toaster, usually with a simple topping of spaghetti sauce, sliced or shredded cheese, and perhaps pepperoni. French bread pizza is sometimes available commercially as a frozen meal.

Regional variations include

• In New Haven, Connecticut, the local specialty is known as apizza. This thin-crust pizza originated with the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in the Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven. The canonical New Haven-style pizza is a white clam pie.

• In Oneonta, New York, a specialty type of pizza served is known as "cold cheese pizza". It is basically an ordinary pie, or slice, but after being taken out of the oven, cold mozzerella cheese is piled on top of the hot cheese.
• In the Binghamton/Endicott area of upstate NY, pizza is often sold as "sheet pizza". This style, made popular by restaurants such as Nirchi's and Brozzetti's, is similar to the Sicilian style, but typically comes in a rectangular shape, has a sweeter crust, and sometimes uses non-traditional cheeses.
• In Arkansas, Wafer thin pizza, with little or no sauce with lots of parmesan cheese, cheese, and pepperoni is preferred.
• Long Island, New York, where the pizza is glorified by many residents, has its own regional variation, aptly titled the Long Island pizza, which typically has a somewhat thinner crust. It is also the birthplace of the "pizza bagel", which substitutes bread with a half sliced bagel, while still having normal toppings and ingredients. Traditional New York-style pizza varieties are served at local pizzerias by the slice or full pie. The most popular types include regular (traditional round thin sliced pizza), sicilian (square with a thick crust), marinara (no cheese, just sauce), white pizza (mozzarella and ricotta cheese toppings, no sauce), grandma (typically square with a thinner crust than sicilian and the sauce goes over the cheese). There is also a growing choice of gourmet pizza including baked ziti pizza, buffalo chicken pizza, eggplant/chicken parmesan pizza, salad pizza, chicken marsala pizza and shrimp scampi pizza. Small family-owned pizzerias are ubiquitous, as many families traditionally set one day a week as a 'pizza night' when they go to these local family pizzerias on a weekly basis. It is not uncommon for a town on Long Island to have several different pizzerias, each with its own distinct flavor. The Long Island Pizza Festival & Bake-Off is annual competition where mom and pop pizzerias compete to be named best on Long Island.
• In San Francisco, California, the Indian Pizza (see below) has become a source of pride. Sourdough crust pizza is the type most commonly associated with San Francisco, however.
• In Baltimore, Maryland, pizza is traditionally served with a thick, doughy crust and a heavy amount of sauce.
• In Colorado, a type of pizza, called mountain pie, is a regional favorite. Made popular by the originating restaurant, BeauJo's, it is piled high with toppings and kept from spilling over by a large, hand-rolled crust that is often dipped in honey for dessert.
• In New Mexico, green chile is often used as a pizza topping, especially in combination with pepperoni, local chorizo sausage, or on supreme pizza. This is uncommon elsewhere.
• In Buffalo, New York, pizza is made with a thicker, doughier crust than traditional New York style pizza, with a slightly thicker and sweeter sauce, mozzarella cheese and (usually) pepperoni cooked until it is burned and crispy on the edges. Buffalo-style pizza can also be found in communities where there is a large population of expatriate Buffalonians, like Charlotte, North Carolina.
• In Utica, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a type of pizza called tomato pie is common. This type of pizza is usually served room temperature, always has a rectangular crust, and is by definition only topped with thick tomato sauce and a sprinkling of grated romano cheese.
• In Dayton, Ohio, the local preference is for pizza with thin crust and a light sauce cut into small squares.
• Youngstown, Ohio's "Brier Hill Pizza" features a thick sauce topped with a mixture of Parmesan and Romano cheese and green peppers. Brier Hill is the city's historically Italian area. A similar style to Brier Hill Pizza is also a tradition in nearby communities with strong Italian roots, includingNiles, Ohio and Warren, Ohio (the Sunrise Inn in Warren is particularly famous for its "old world-style pizza," also known by some simply as "bar pizza" due to it being served from behind the bar in the restaurant. This pizza also includes red sauce, green peppers, and grated romano cheese).
• Rhode Island's strip pizza, commonly sold in bakeries, consists of thick, chewy dough and is topped with a very thick tomato sauce. It has a minimal amount of cheese and is served cold. It is usually (but not always) wrapped in individual strips (hence the name). This style also is sometimes called "bakery pizza." A similar product is made in bakeries in Italy.
• Old Forge, Pennsylvania near Scranton is the self-styled "Pizza Capital of the World" because of its abundance of Italian restaurants specializing in pizza. The crust is thick, crisp, and airy. Depending on the maker, the dough may impart a flavor of beer, which is rumored to be an ingredient in some recipes. A special blend of cheeses besides traditional mozzarella is used, resulting in a less greasy texture and a smoother, sweeter taste. Old Forge Pizza is almost universally rectangular; only a rare few makers offer round pizza. Finally, whereas most other localities refer to it as "a pie" or simply "a pizza", it is ordered throughout northeastern Pennsylvania by the "tray" because of the simple plastic, school cafeteria-style trays on which restaurants serve it.
• In Southern California, ranch dressing is a very popular condiment on pizza. Many pizzarias carry ranch dressing as a standard condiment for all customers readily available upon request.
• In Memphis, Tennessee, barbeque pizza is quite popular due to the city's love of BBQ. It usually consists of either BBQ'd pork, chicken, or beef topped with cheddar cheese and barbeque sauce replaces the standard tomato sauce.
• On the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans, many people top their pizza with French or Catalina dressing, a practice that began at Hugo's Italian Restaurant, now defunct, in Biloxi.
• In Northern Ireland pizza made with Soda Bread is becoming popular, similar to a pizza bagel substituting traditional Soda Bread for the usual pizza base. Coloquially know as a "Paddy Pizza"

Health Concerns
Depending on what type of Pizza one eats, Pizza can be either very nutritious or very un-healthy. Those who consume too much cheese for example are at a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease and are prone to heart attacks.

Records  

• The largest pizza ever made was at the Norwood Pick 'n Pay Hypermarket in Johannesburg, South Africa. According to the Guinness Book of Records the pizza was 37.4 m in diameter and was made using 500 kg of flour, 800 kg of cheese and 900 kg of tomato puree. This feat was accomplished on December 8th 1990.
• On 22 March 2001, Bernard Jordaan of Butler's Pizza, Cape Town, South Africa, delivered a pizza 11042 km (6861 miles) from Cape Town to Sydney, Australia, to set the world record for the longest pizza delivery. This record was acknowledged in the Guinness Book of Records.
• In Feltham, London, a new record for the farthest food delivery was achieved by Lucy Clough of Domino's. A vegetarian supreme pizza was cooked on November 17, 2004 and travelled a distance of 10,532 miles to its delivery point at 30 'Ramsey Street', Melbourne, on November 19, 2004. The record will appear in the 2006 version of the book of Guinness World Records.

HISTORY OF PIZZA
The history of food items which may have served as the roots of modern pizza can be traced to the ancient Greek colony of Naples in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). Such products arguably have their first written mention in Book VII of Virgil’s Aeneid:

Their homely fare dispatch’d, the hungry band
Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,
To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour.
Ascanius this observ’d, and smiling said:
“See, we devour the plates on which we fed.”

 

In the 3rd 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 stones”; 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 AD 79, where archaeologists have excavated shops that closely resemble modern pizzerie

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 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as are some other fruits of the nightshade family). By the late 18th century, however, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and the dish gained in popularity. Pizza became a tourist attraction, and visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city to try the local specialty.

Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and street vendors out of pizza bakeries. The world’s first true pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba, opened in Naples in that period.

Modern-day pizza
Modern pizza is attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. In 1889 Esposito, working in the pizzeria "Pietro... e basta così" (literally "Peter... and that's enough", established in 1890 and still operating under the name "Pizzeria Brandi"), baked three different pizze”. for the visit of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy. The Queen's favorite was a pizza evoking the colors of the Italian flag – green (basil leaves), white (mozzarella), and red (tomatoes). This combination, named Pizza Margherita in her honor, set the standard by which today's pizza evolved.

Pizza in the United States of America
Lombardi's Pizza at 32 Spring Street in Little Italy, ManhattanAn Italian immigrant to the U.S.A. named Gennaro Lombardi (who immigrated in 1897) opened a small grocery store in Little Italy, Manhattan. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero began making pizza for the store to sell. Their pizza became so popular that Lombardi opened the first U.S. pizzeria in 1905 naming it simply Lombardi's. The price for an entire pizza was five cents, but since many people couldn't afford the cost of a whole pie, they could instead say how much they could pay and they were given a slice corresponding to the amount offered.

In 1924, Totonno left Lombardi's to open his own pizzeria on Coney Island called Totonno's. From there more Italians began to open their own shops. At this point in time in the U.S., pizza consumption was still limited mostly to Italian immigrants.

The international breakthrough came after World War II. Allied troops occupying Italy, weary of their rations, were constantly on the lookout for good food. They discovered the pizzeria, and local bakers were hard pressed to satisfy the demand from the soldiers. The American troops involved in the Italian campaign took their appreciation for the dish back home, touted by "veterans ranging from the lowliest private to Dwight D. Eisenhower".

According to an article in American Heritage, the modern pizza industry was born in the Midwestern United States. Ike Sewell pioneered what became known as the deep dish pizza when, in 1943, he opened Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, and a generation later, Tom Monaghan launched what soon became known as Domino's Pizza and introduced home delivery.

With its rising popularity, chain restaurants moved in. Leading early pizza chains were Shakey's Pizza and Pizza Hut, both founded in 1954, in Sacramento, California and Wichita, Kansas, respectively.

Later entrant restaurant chains to the dine-in pizza market were Bertucci's, Happy Joe's, California Pizza Kitchen, Godfather's Pizza, and Round Table Pizza.

Today, the American pizza business is dominated by companies that specialize in pizza delivery. Besides Domino's, this includes Little Caesar's, Papa John's Pizza and Godfather's Pizza. Pizza Hut has also shifted its emphasis away from pizza parlors and toward home delivery.