Pizza

History of Italian food would not be completed without mentioning "Pizza". Pizza was popular food in ancient Rome, ancient Egypt and Babylon. Many historical evidences reveal a pizza was relished by ancient historians Cato the Elder and Herodotus. In olden days, a pizza was baked on a hot stone. Later it was consumed with vegetable or meat stew. Sometimes pizzas were seasoned with herbs and spices.

In Latin, pizza is called "pinsa", which means flatbread. In Middles ages, people started to top a pizza with various herbs, spices mixed in olive oil. You could rightly say that the pizza gained a new taste and look during the medieval period. Gradually, with the introduction of buffalo cheese called mozzarella, the Italian pizza gained popularity not only in Italy but also around the globe.

Ancient Romans often had a light and meager meal twice a day and a heavy meal once a day. The fast was broken with olives, milk, eggs and wine. The meal of the noon was usually fruits and cold dishes. However, the dinner was heavy consisting of various seafood, bread, meat, sweet meat and wine. Fresh and dry fruits were served as desserts.