Pizza arrived in the United States in the early 20th century along with waves of Italian immigrants who settled primarily in the larger cities of the Northeast, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore. After American soldiers stationed in Italy returned from World War II, pizza and pizzerias rapidly grew in popularity. [1]
During the latter half of the 20th century, pizza became an iconic food with considerable acceptance in the United States. Numerous regional variations have evolved, with many bearing only a casual resemblance to the Italian original. Pizza is a popular fast food item produced by many small restaurants as well as several large pizza restaurant chains. The United States pizza restaurant industry was worth $37 billion in 2015. [2] [3]
The first pizzeria in the U.S., Lombardi's, [4] opened in New York City's Little Italy in 1905, [5] producing a Neapolitan-style pizza. The word "pizza" was borrowed into English in the 1930s; before it became well known, pizza was generally called "tomato pie" by English speakers. Some regional pizza variations still use the name tomato pie. [6] [7]
Distinct regional types developed in the 20th century, including Buffalo, [8] California, Chicago, Detroit, Greek, New Haven, New York, and St. Louis styles. [9] These regional variations include deep-dish, stuffed, pockets, turnovers, rolls, and pizza-on-a-stick, each with several combinations of sauce and toppings.
Thirteen percent of the United States population consumes pizza on any given day. [10] Tens of thousands of pizzerias, food stands, chains such as Domino's, Pizza Hut, and Little Caesars, pies from take and bake shops, and chilled or frozen pizzas from supermarkets make pizza readily available both to diners and at-home consumers nationwide.
Common toppings for pizza in the United States include pepperoni, sausage, salami, ground beef, ham, bacon, olives, mushrooms, onions, peppers, anchovies, chicken, tomatoes, spinach, and pineapple.
American pizza (particularly thin-crust) is made with a very high-gluten flour (often 13–14% protein content) of the type also used to make bagels; this allows the dough to be stretched thinly and thrown vigorously without tearing. Unlike Italian pizza, [12] American pizza often has vegetable oil or shortening mixed into the dough. This can range from a small amount in relatively lean doughs, such as New York–style, to a very large amount in some recipes for Chicago-style deep-dish dough.[ citation needed ]
While tomato sauce is virtually ubiquitous, variations such as white pizza omit it while others replace it with garlic and olive oil or sauces made from other vegetables such as pesto.
The most common cheese used on US pizzas is mozzarella. Other popular cheeses include: [13]
Pizza is an Italian dish consisting of a flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.
Chicago-style pizza is pizza prepared according to several styles developed in Chicago. It can refer to both the well-known deep-dish or stuffed pizzas and the lesser-known thin-crust tavern-style pizzas more popular with locals. The pan in which deep-dish pizza is baked gives the pizza its characteristically high edge, which provides ample space for large amounts of cheese and a chunky tomato sauce. Chicago-style deep-dish pizza may be prepared in the deep-dish style and as a stuffed pizza. Chicago-style thin-crust pizza dough is rolled for a thinner crispier crust than other thin-crust styles. The thin-crust pizza is cut in squares instead of slices, and is also referred to as a "tavern-style" pizza.
St. Louis–style pizza is a type of pizza in St. Louis, Missouri and surrounding areas. The pizza has a thin cracker-like crust made without yeast, topped sweet tomato sauce and Provel cheese, and is cut into squares or rectangles rather than wedges.
Italian tomato pie is an Italian-American and Italian-Canadian baked good consisting of a thick, porous, focaccia-like dough covered with tomato sauce. It may be sprinkled with Romano cheese or oregano. It is not usually served straight from the oven, but allowed to cool and then consumed at room temperature or reheated. Like Sicilian pizza, tomato pie is baked in a large rectangular pan and usually served in square slices, although in Rhode Island it is cut into rectangular strips like pizza al taglio. Tomato pie descends from and resembles the Italian sfincione, although it is not the same dish. For instance, sfincione may have toppings, is usually served hot, and has a crust more like brioche than focaccia.
New York–style pizza is a pizza made with a characteristically large hand-tossed thin crust, often sold in wide slices to go. The crust is thick and crisp only along its edge, yet soft, thin, and pliable enough beneath its toppings to be folded to eat. Traditional toppings are simply tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. This was a popular meal among poor Italians due to the ratio of product from the limited produce.
New Haven–style pizza is a style of thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan pizza common in and around New Haven, Connecticut. Locally known as apizza, it originated in 1925 at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and is now served in many other pizza restaurants in the area, most notably Sally's Apizza and Modern Apizza. This geographically limited pizza style has been favorably regarded by national critics.
Stromboli is a type of baked turnover filled with various Italian cheeses and usually Italian cold cuts or vegetables, served hot. The dough used is either Italian bread dough or pizza dough. Stromboli was invented by Italian Americans in the United States, in the Philadelphia area. The name of the dish is taken from a volcanic island off the coast of Sicily.
Sicilian pizza is a pizza prepared in a manner that originated in Sicily, Italy. Sicilian pizza is also known as sfincione or focaccia with toppings. This type of pizza became a popular dish in western Sicily by the mid-19th century and was the type of pizza usually consumed in Sicily until the 1860s. It eventually reached North America in a slightly altered form, with thicker crust and a rectangular shape.
The history of pizza begins in antiquity, as various ancient cultures produced flatbreads with several toppings.
Detroit-style pizza is a rectangular pan pizza with a thick, crisp, chewy crust. It is traditionally topped to the edges with mozzarella or Wisconsin brick cheese, which caramelizes against the high-sided heavyweight rectangular pan. Detroit-style pizza was originally baked in rectangular steel trays designed for use as automotive drip pans or to hold small industrial parts in factories. It was developed during the mid-20th century in Detroit, Michigan, before spreading to other parts of the United States in the 2010s. It is one of Detroit's iconic local foods.
The cuisine of New Jersey is derived from the state's long immigrant history and its close proximity to both New York City and Philadelphia. Due to its geographical location, New Jersey can generally be divided by New York City cuisine in the northern and central parts of the state and Philadelphia cuisine in the southern parts. Restaurants in the state often make use of locally grown ingredients such as asparagus, blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes, corn, and peaches. New Jersey is particularly known for its diners, of which there are approximately 525, the most of any state. Various foods invented in the state, such as the pork roll, and salt water taffy, remain popular there today.
Lou Malnati's Pizzeria is an American Chicago-style pizza restaurant chain headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. It was founded by the son of Rudy Malnati, who was instrumental in developing the recipe for Chicago-style pizza, and it has become one of the Chicago area's best-known local lines of pizza restaurants. Lou Malnati's operates a division of its company called Lou Malnati's Presents Tastes of Chicago, a partnership with Portillo's Restaurants and Eli's Cheesecake, which ships Chicago-style cuisine nationally.
Grandma pizza is a distinct thin, rectangular style of pizza attributed to Long Island, New York. Typically topped with cheese and tomato sauce, it is reminiscent of pizzas baked at home by Italian housewives who lacked a pizza oven. The pizza is often compared to Sicilian pizza.
Iranian pizza also known as Persian pizza refers to the various styles of pizza and its preparation rather than its toppings. It is characterized by its thick bread and large amounts of cheese. Iranian pizza is served in Iran and places affected by the Iranian diaspora. It is usually made with minced meat, beef sausage, bell pepper, mushroom, mozzarella cheese, and Persian spices.
Trenton tomato pie or New Jersey tomato pie is a type of circular, thin-crust Italian tomato pie created in Trenton, New Jersey, United States, around the early 20th century in which cheese and other toppings are added on first, then the sauce.
Argentine pizza is a mainstay of the country's cuisine, especially of its capital Buenos Aires, where it is regarded as a cultural heritage and icon of the city. Argentina is the country with the most pizzerias per inhabitant in the world and, although they are consumed throughout the country, the highest concentration of pizzerias and customers is Buenos Aires, the city with the highest consumption of pizzas in the world. As such, the city has been considered as one of the world capitals of pizza.
Baby Doll Pizza is a pizzeria in Portland, Oregon.
Canada has many of its own pizza chains, both national and regional, and many distinctive regional variations and types of pizza resulting from influences of local Canadian cuisine.
Columbus-style pizza is an American regional pizza style associated with Columbus, Ohio. It has a circular shape, pieces cut into short or long rectangles, thin crust, dense toppings that cover the surface, and, usually, provolone cheese and a slightly sweet sauce. It was developed in the early 1950s.
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