Some regional pizza variations still use the name tomato pie. The word pizza was borrowed from Italian into English in the 1930s before it became well known, pizza was called "tomato pie" by English speakers.
A person who makes pizza is known as a pizzaiolo. The shift b>p could be explained by the High German consonant shift, and it has been noted in this connection that in German the word Imbiss means 'snack'.Ī small pizza is sometimes called a pizzetta. The Lombardic word bizzo or pizzo meaning 'mouthful' (related to the English words "bit" and "bite"), which was brought to Italy in the middle of the 6th century AD by the invading Lombards.Their origin is from Latin pinsere, 'to pound, stamp'. The Etymological Dictionary of the Italian Language explains it as coming from dialectal pinza, 'clamp', as in modern Italian pinze, 'pliers, pincers, tongs, forceps'.The word pitta can in turn be traced to either Ancient Greek πικτή ( pikte), 'fermented pastry', which in Latin became picta, or Ancient Greek πίσσα ( pissa, Attic: πίττα, pitta), 'pitch', or πήτεα ( pḗtea), 'bran' (πητίτης, pētítēs, 'bran bread'). Modern Greek pitta bread and the Apulia and Calabrian (then Byzantine Italy) pitta, a round flat bread baked in the oven at high temperature sometimes with toppings. Byzantine Greek and Late Latin pitta > pizza, cf.'twelve pizzas') every Christmas Day, and another twelve every Easter Sunday. The oldest recorded usage of the word pizza is from a Latin text from the town of Gaeta, then still part of the Byzantine Empire, in 997 AD the text states that a tenant of certain property is to give the bishop of Gaeta duodecim pizze ( lit. population aged two years and over consumed pizza on any given day. In 2017, the world pizza market was US$128 billion, and in the US it was $44 billion spread over 76,000 pizzerias. Pizza is also sold in grocery stores in a variety of forms, including frozen or as kits for self-assembly. In casual settings, however, it is typically cut into slices to be eaten while held in the hand. In Italy, pizza served in a restaurant is presented unsliced, and is eaten with the use of a knife and fork.
Pizza is sold at a variety of restaurants, including pizzerias (pizza specialty restaurants), Mediterranean restaurants, via delivery, and as street food. Pizza and its variants are among the most popular foods in the world. In 2017, the art of making Neapolitan pizza was added to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. In 2009, Neapolitan pizza was registered with the European Union as a traditional speciality guaranteed dish. Raffaele Esposito is often credited for creating modern pizza in Naples.
The term pizza was first recorded in the year 997, in a Latin manuscript from the southern Italian town of Gaeta, in Lazio, on the border with Campania. Pizza ( / ˈ p iː t s ə/ PEET-sə, Italian: Neapolitan: ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as anchovies, mushrooms, onions, olives, vegetables, meat, etc.), which is then baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.