National Pizza Day

igorovsyannykov, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

February 9th is National Pizza Day in the United States.

Pizza is a well-known Italian dish that usually consists of a round, flattened base of leavened wheat-based dough that is topped with a variety of ingredients. A pizza would normally have tomato and cheese as the basic toppings, with many other additional ones possible. However, as pizzas have spread across the world, both the dough and the basic ingredients have started to diverge from the traditional recipes.

The first known reference to a pizza dates from the 10th century in Laizo in Italy. The modern pizza was invented in Naples. Since the popularity of pizzas spread, it is now a common fast food and takeaway dish in many other countries, as well as being available from supermarkets, both fresh and frozen, and being a common restaurant food, though some of what is sold as pizza would probably be unrecognisable as such to someone only accustomed to the traditional Italian dish.