So you are here to find out the number one most popular food in Italy… then it should come as no surprise, it’s the pizza. No one knows when or why the tomato first began being used in the preparation of pizza, but it is known that they were first recorded in Italy in 1544
The story of the invention of this everyday household name changes depending on how you define it. If you think a pizza is an oven-baked flatbread, its origins lie in the ancient Middle East. If pizza must have toppings, its origins date back to the ancient Romans and Greeks, who baked flatbreads and topped them with available, local spices and olive oil.
But the pizza we all know today, made with tomato sauce, cheese, and numerous toppings, originated in Italy. It became popular in Naples in the 18th century as a cheap, nourishing food that was consumed mainly by peasants. The modern pizza as we know it today evolved from early Neapolitan flatbreads topped with lard, salt, and garlic. Order this popular item from the local pizzeria, and you can expect to be served with a crispy, thin-crust pizza topped with olive oil, garlic, basil, tomatoes, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
