Pizza Pizza!
10/21/202546 min
At last, an episode on pizza! But that raises a tricky question: what exactly is pizza? As it turns out, the original pizzas from eighteenth-century Naples looked nothing like a standard slice—they were more like a focaccia, topped with oil, herbs, anchovies, or whatever else was on hand. Even after these first pizzas met the tomato, the dish was a local peculiarity—most Italians thought pizza was gross and weird until just a few decades ago. So how did we get from Neapolitan subsistence snack to today's delivery staple? Listen in this episode as we travel with historian Carol...
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
If I put an egg on a grandma pizza, it's still a pizza.
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:02
I mean, that's not one of my traditional toppings, but...
Speaker 00:05
Cheddar, is that a pizza cheese?
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:07
No.
Speaker 00:09
This is a pizza.
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:11
Yes.
Speaker 00:11
Confirmed, 100%.
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:12
Why are you in such shock?
Speaker 00:13
I'm in shock because I feel like- It has sauce.
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:16
It has cheese. It has dough.
Francisco Migoya· Guest0:17
Not a pizza, but close enough.
Speaker 00:19
French bread pizza, not a pizza. We agree.
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:22
This is really good.
Speaker 00:23
This is crazy good. Is this like any other pizza you've ever had?
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:28
No, I've never had a pizza donut before.
Speaker 00:30
But to me it doesn't taste like pizza crust. To me it tastes like a donut.
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:35
It's a pizza donut.
Francisco Migoya· Guest0:37
Yeah, but is it a donut or is it a pizza?
Cynthia Graber· Host0:40
Donut pizza? I don't know.
Nicola Twilley· Host0:42
Oh, I do, and it's a yes. I mean, I don't know know it. I don't know donut pizza in the biblical sense. Haven't actually had one, but conceptually, yes.
Cynthia Graber· Host0:53
These are clips from the Thrillist video series Really Dough? Where two guys go around and debate whether something is or isn't a pizza. And so the question is, is a donut pizza pizza?
Nicola Twilley· Host1:04
I'm so glad you asked, Cynthia, because this is Gastropod, the show that looks at food through the lens of science and history, and we are here today to get to the bottom of this pizza question. I'm Nicola Twilley.
Cynthia Graber· Host1:15
And I'm Cynthia Graber. And while pizza seems like it's incredibly straightforward, crust, tomato sauce, cheese, it's actually surprisingly mysterious. Where does it come from?
Nicola Twilley· Host1:24
You may have just involuntarily shouted, "Italy, you dummies," but, A, that's mean,