Pizza: A Delicious History

Pizza. The word itself evokes feelings of comfort, happiness, and satisfaction. No matter the context in which it is consumed- a quick slice on the go, a consolation pizza after a disappointing Ohio State loss, etc.- pizza possesses the uncanny ability to fill any void, be it voracious hunger or crippling sadness. It seems that a food so perfect, so intrinsically good, would have been around since the dawn of man. Pizza as we know it, however, has a surprisingly brief history.

The word "pizza" has been around for quite some time, having appeared in writing for the first time in 997 AD. The Latin text in question proclaimed that one of the citizens of Gaeta was to present the bishop of the southern Italian town with twelve pizzas each Christmas and Easter Sunday (Priestley, 2010). If you ask me, the bishop of Gaeta's gig sounds pretty awesome, even if the "pizzas" he received bore little resemblance to the modern-day dish. The duodecim pizza ("twelve pizzas") likely resembled one of several flatbreads that existed across the Mediterranean, many of which are still around today.

Naples, Italy: The Birthplace of Pizza.

Plakous was a flatbread consumed by the ancient Greeks, flavored with herbs, onion, and garlic ("The History of Neapolitan Pizza"). The ancient Etruscans are said to have invented focaccia bread, while coca was and is a popular pizza-esque dish in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. During the 16th century, the Galette flatbread- a dish popular among Naples's poorer inhabitants- began to be referred to as pizza (Baxter, 2013). Another great development of the 16th century, the tomato was introduced into the European diet amidst the conquest of the Americas. Within generations, it became common for the natives of Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flatbreads- paving the way for the creation of humankind's greatest culinary achievement.

Pizza Margherita.

Raffaele Esposito is credited as the inventor of modern pizza, having created the dish in 1889 at Pizzeria di Pietro in Campania, Italy (Bellis, 2014). Esposito crafted his pizzas specially for the visiting King and Queen of Italy, Umberto I and Margherita. The Queen's favored pie was one that matched the colors of the Italian flag, topped with basil leaves (green), mozzarella (white), and tomatoes (red). Thus, the "Pizza Margherita" was named in her honor.

Pizza made its first appearance in the United States as Italian immigrants arrived in cities such as New York,  Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis at the end of the 19th Century. In 1897, Gennaro Lombardi opened a grocery store in New York that would become America's first pizzeria when it received its mercantile license in 1905 ("Lombardi's Pizza"). Though pizza consumption was mostly limited to Italian immigrants in America, after World War II American troops who had been stationed in Italy brought their affinity for the dish back home with them.

Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, IL.

In 1943, Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo invented deep-dish pizza, opening Pizzeria Uno on the corner of Wabash and Ohio in downtown Chicago (Vettel, 2013). In addition to Chicago, other American cities such as New Haven, Detroit, and Youngstown (yes, that Youngstown) created their own adaptations of the dish. With pizza's rapidly rising popularity, chain restaurants began to spring up around the nation (Pizza Hut, for example, was established in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas- thus, beginning its quest to create the most mediocre pizza possible).

Today, national chains with a focus on delivery such as Papa John's, Donatos, and Domino's have a stronghold on the pizza market. However, pizza enthusiasts continue to flock to their local joints (Columbusites: I highly recommend Catfish Biff's and Adriatico's) in search of the perfect pie- a lifelong quest that I, and many others, enjoy to the fullest. Pizza- oh, glorious product of Napoli- we salute you.

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Baxter, Meaghan. "Where It All Began." Vue Weekly. Aberdeen Publishing, 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Jan. 2014. <http://www.vueweekly.com/where_it_all_began/>.

Bellis, Mary. "The History of Pizza Pie." Inventors. About.com, n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2014. <http://inventors.about.com/od/foodrelatedinventions/a/pizza.htm>.

Priestley, Rachel. "That's Amore!" TheFlorentine.net. The Florentine, 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 03 Jan. 2014 <http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=6101>.

"The History of Neapolitan Pizza." Famoso. Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria, n.d. Web. 02 Jan. 2014. <http://www.famoso.ca/history.php>.

NBA Tip-Off Special

It's the most wonderful time of the year, folks: the NBA season will finally get underway tonight, as the defending champions, the Miami Heat, face the Chicago Bulls. Derrick Rose's return to regular season action promises to be an exciting one, despite the collective cringe that Bulls fans will perform each time he falls to the floor. 

Between Miami's pursuit of a three-peat, an accomplishment that would arguably thrust Lebron James into the Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant echelon of the NBA Pantheon, and #The(LongAwaited)Return, 

the 2013-14 Season Opener has been hyped since the matchup was announced in August. From a historical perspective, though, it is just the next in a long line of highly anticipated NBA Tip-Off contests. 

Over the past sixty-seven years, the National Basketball Association has transformed itself from a small amalgamation of teams known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to a multi-billion-dollar display of dazzling sports entertainment. Each season has been accompanied by new story lines, new faces, 

old faces in new places, and, above all, the intrigue of a new year.

The first-ever NBA game took place on November 1, 1946- in Canada, of all places. The New York Knickerbockers defeated Toronto Huskies 68-66 in a game that hardly resembled that of the modern era ("The First Game"). The shot clock had not yet come into existence, the jump shot was a less-popular alternative to the set shot, and tickets prices didn't exceed the GDP per capita of a developing nation.

In its awkward teenage years, the NBA would gain one of its all-time greats. Having already achieved national recognition for his dominance as a Kansas Jayhawk and a Harlem Globetrotter, twenty-three year old Wilt Chamberlain made his NBA debut on October 24, 1959. "The Big Dipper" gave a glimpse of his record-setting career to come, scoring 43 points while gathering an absurd 28 rebounds ("Philadelphia Warriors at New York Knicks"). Three years later, Wilt would become the only player to ever score 100 points in a single game. 

Ever the scoring threat, Chamberlain would
later claim to have slept with 20,000 women.
According to MentalFloss.com, that'd be about
500 women per year...

Over the next few decades, the NBA competed with the American Basketball Association (ABA) for basketball hegemony. That changed on August 5, 1976, when the NBA-ABA merger resulted in the addition of four new teams for the 1976-77 season. On October 21, 1976, the Indiana Pacers became the first former ABA team to compete in a regular season NBA game, falling to the John Havlicek-led Boston Celtics, 129-122 ("Boston Celtics at Indiana Pacers"). Interestingly, no former ABA team would win an NBA title until 1999, when the San Antonio Spurs won their first of four championships. 

Less than a decade after the merger, Michael Jordan made his debut in the NBA. By the 1984-85 season, the NBA had asserted itself among the major sports leagues in North America- due in large part to the marketability of superstars such as Ervin "Magic" Johnson and Larry "The Hick from French Lick" Bird. Michael Jordan took the term "superstar" to an entirely new level during his illustrious career with the Chicago Bulls. That all started on October 26, 1984, when he gave the 13,913 in attendance at Chicago Stadium a glimpse of what was to come over the next decade and a half (6 championships, 6 Finals MVP Awards, 5 Regular Season MVP Awards, 10 Scoring Titles, and 14 All Star Appearances, to be exact).

After Jordan’s retirement, no player’s NBA debut was as highly anticipated Lebron James's first appearance with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003. Since that time, though, James's name has become more associated with “The Decision,” in which he left Cleveland for Miami in July 2010. Arguably the most impactful free agent decision since Shaquille O’Neal left Orlando for Los Angeles in 1996, it came as no surprise that Miami’s 2010-11 season opener against the Boston Celtics delivered record-setting ratings, reaching a total of 7,433,000 viewers ("TNT Has Record-Setting Ratings for NBA Season Opener"). Hell hath no fury like a Cleveland sports fan scorned, though, and much to their delight, James committed 8 turnovers in Miami’s 88-80 defeat.

Since that time, the Heat have made three straight Finals appearances—winning the last two. Tonight, they begin their journey towards a fourth straight Finals appearance, a feat which has only occurred three times in the history of the NBA (Boston Celtics, 1959-66; Los Angeles Lakers, 1982-85; Boston Celtics, 1984-87). Meanwhile, the Bulls seek to live up to the high expectations surrounding Derrick Rose’s return to action after an 18-month recovery from his ACL tear in the 2012 NBA Playoffs. At 8 PM ET on TNT, the journey will begin for the Bulls, Heat, and twenty-eight other teams across the league. 

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"Boston Celtics at Indiana Pacers." Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. <http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/197610210IND.html>.
Goldaper, Sam. "The First Game." NBA.com. National Basketball Association. Web. 28 Oct. 2013 <http://www.nba.com/history/firstgame_feature.html>.

"Philadelphia Warriors at New York Knicks." Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. <http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/195910240NYK.html>.
"TNT Has Record-setting Ratings for NBA Season Opener." NBA.com. National Basketball Association, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nba.com/2010/news/10/27/tnt-ratings/>.