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In its native form, a pizza (occasionally, pizza pie) is an oven-baked, flat, usually circular bread covered with tomato sauce and cheese with optional toppings. The cheese is usually mozzarella or sometimes a mixture of several cheeses. Various other foodstuffs may be added to this design as toppings, most typically:
* herbs and seasonings such as basil, oregano, and garlic
* vegetables such as bell peppers, asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, onions
* meat, seafood or fish products, such as sausage, (especially pepperoni), ham, bacon, ground beef, anchovies and shrimp
The crust is traditionally plain but may also be seasoned with butter, garlic, or herbs; or stuffed, with cheese, for example. Pizza is normally eaten hot (typically at lunch or dinner), but leftovers are often eaten cold.
Pizza is eaten in restaurants sometimes called pizzerias or pizza parlors. It can also be purchased in grocery stores or supermarkets (usually but not always frozen); in many countries, pizza can also be ordered by phone (or, increasingly, via the Web) to be delivered, hot and ready to eat, to the home.
The word "pizza" is from the Italian word pizza (IPA: /pittsa/), with plural form pizze (IPA: /pit:tse/). The term was originally used to refer to a range of dough-based dishes, and is is thought to be derived from pinza ← Latin pincere "to mash up".[1] [2]. The expression Che pizza! is still used to mean "What a mess!". |
