Daniel wrote:
> I don't think this is OT: To get a real pizza, one shall
> cook it in a brick oven stuffed with wood fire.
> Do you know how and when pizza was invented?
>
> It dates back to the peak of the Roman Empire might and
> wealth. The rich Romans were used to organise huge
> parties with a lot of guests and a lot of food.
> Many more guests than their available porcelain, ceramic,
> wood and/or metal dishes can accomodate.
> So, it became a standard practice to serve the food over
> thin circular bread especially backed for that.
>
> For sure, those bread "dishes" were abosrbing all sort of
> sauces and carrying quite a lot of leftover at the end of
> the party.
>
> So, the Roman guests get used to take away their "dish"
> and give it to the beggars and poor people who were
> queuing outside of the party place.
>
> Back home, those poor people were warming up the bread
> and its "surface content" over wood fire or in wood-
> stuffed ovens.
>
> And that's pizza....
> OK, recipes have been sophisticating this original pizza
> practice quite a lot, but the principle remain the same: Thin slice of
circular bread with
> whatever you want on it, then brick oven...
>
> The Frog footnote: THIN slice of bread. The one inch
> thick stuff you can get at Pizza Hut is NOT pizza. Well,
> not the real original one.....It shall be crispy!
>
> Cheers
> Daniel

I agree about the crispy part. Like many dishes the origins are clouded in
the fog of time. Another version of the origins states:

" The common belief is that Italians invented the pizza, however the origins
go back to the ancient times. Babylonians, Israelites, Egyptians and other
ancient Middle Eastern cultures were eating flat, un-leaven bread that had
been cooked in mud ovens. The bread was much like a pita, which is still
common in Greece and the Middle East today. Further it is known that ancient
Mediterranean people such as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians were eating
the bread, topped seasoned with olive oil and native spices. "

http://www.aboutpizza.com/history/

Since the Romans were widely traveled and traded extensively your version
certainly sounds plausible although the actual concept might be a bit
earlier than that.

--
Pete Romfh, Telecom Geek & Amateur Gourmet.
promfh at hal dash pc dot org