Paul Fedorenko wrote:

>>Americans didn't invent fish and chips or pizza, the British and the
>>Italians did. We may have put the hot dog in the bun and turned it
>
> The pizza as we know it was invented in New York city in the 1950's. It's
> not an Italian dish. It's 100% American. Now, having said that, pizza-like
> dishes have been around for centuries, even the Vikings made something that
> was vaguely similar. So did the ancient Greeks. Flat-bread with stuff on
> top is pretty much a no-brainer.
>
> But the dish that's called "pizza" in this day and age is completely,
> absolutely and definitely American. Invented by an Italian immigrant, but
> American.

Sorry. All wet with these pizza "facts." Southern Italians brought the
pizzas they made at home to the U.S. They're since evolved in many
cases, but the basic pizza is still available here.

The first pizzerias in the U.S. certainly predate the 50's. Coffaro's
in New Brunswick, N.J. was making them in the 1940's that I recall. I
think I was told that they were in business in the 30's. Charlie
Coffaro brought pizza to our kindergarten class back in 1946.

My Sicilian grandparents bought pizza back in the early part of the
20th century in New York where they lived.

Pastorio