Pizza: the food that conquered the world
Pizza is a globally beloved food originating from Italy. The dough is covered with tomato sauce, cheese, and many other ingredients, and baked in an oven until the crust is crispy and the cheese is melted. The combination of toppings that can be put on a pizza is almost endless. The best pizza in the world is from the city of Naples. Neapolitan pizza is phenomenal, and since 2010 it has even been registered and protected as a "cultural heritage" in Italy. There are similar dishes in the world, such as Turkish pizza pide.
Lahmajun: Armenian Pizza
Pizza Rustica: A Savory Pie from Southern Italy
In southern Italy, the word pizza doesn't always mean a round base with tomatoes. Pizza rustica is a savory pie cut from a bakery tray: two layers of dough with cheese and ham between them, most often, and it's sold by weight. And the same name covers a different dish in Naples, in Bari and in Matera - I found mine in Gravina in Puglia.
Pizzeria 400 Gradi, Matera
Montanara: Fried Neapolitan Pizza
A fried pizza from Naples that supposedly owes its name to a mountain man's lunch: instead of being baked, montanara goes into hot oil and gets dressed only once it comes out. In the film The Gold of Naples it was even sold on credit. In Matera they now serve it in gourmet versions - from mortadella with pistachios to an anchovy on yellow tomato pesto.
Pizza Secca: The Dry Pizza from Catania's Bakeries
Pizza secca is Catania's "dry pizza": a sheet of dough rolled out to a few millimeters, brushed with tomato paste, oil and oregano and baked until crisp. The bakeries of Catania sell it cold and by weight, and nowhere else in Sicily will you find it. This piece explains why a dry flatbread is called pizza, how it differs from sfincione and where I bought mine.
