We all love a good pizza. I happily consume that quintessential pizza of pizzas, the margherita, with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. But I wouldn’t say no to what an Italian pizza historian, Mr. Nicola, calls archeo-pizza. It’s portrayed on a recently excavated fresco in Pompeii (see above photo, wiki). On a delicate silver tray, pomegranate seeds, spices, and a pesto precursor top this round of dough. Sounds yummy to me, depending on which “spices” it includes, I suppose. Given its Roman pedigree, I wouldn’t be surprised if some chef had sprinkled on garum, a rotted fish sauce that the Romans loved so much. No way to tell from a fresco.
Enjoying Archeo-pizza in the NYT
Bringing us this culinary news is a short but delightful article in the New York Times “A Proto-Pizza Emerges from a Fresco on a Pompeii Wall.” The discussion is intriguing. The various experts clearly had fun. Sometimes they showed a bit of tongue-in-cheek.
Who Invented Pizza?
The house decorated with this fresco is connected to a bakery, so that helps explain the presence of a doughy dish. The artist honored the home owner’s profession. If I had a bakery, with lots of leftover dough hanging about, I’d probably invent “stuff on a flattened circle,” which is what we seem to have here. For the record, the article says that we should actually thank the Greeks for inventing flattened dough with cheese and herbs on it. Like everything else, the Romans stole the idea. To be honest, I think pretty much every ancient mediterranean and Near Eastern culture invented flatbread with something on top. However, it took New World tomatoes to really make pizza.
Further Reading
If you’d like to learn about a recently excavated Pompeiian cook shop, you can read about in it this post.
Looking for fantasy novels to read? This is for you
On a side note this week, I joined in a promotion with my historical fantasy Priestess of Ishana. As the banner says, “great books at great prices.” If you click through, you’ll find a lot of books to choose from. Fun, fun.