A good video explaining the history of some “Italian” foods are in fact more American than Italian.
It really is…you have mass immigration and WWII to thank for that.
Professor Grandi said it became a ‘major reference for Italians in America’, helped them ‘preserve their language’, and made them ‘adopt a style of cooking that doesn’t really exist in Italy’ with new ingredients and methods.
He added: 'And then they take the whole thing back to Italy. This is what happens with pizza.
'In Artusi’s book, Neapolitan pizza is a dessert which is nothing like what we recognize as Neapolitan pizza. It’s a sweet focaccia, basically.
'Neapolitan pizza was a very poor product and free of condiments, it was very basic and then also poorly cooked because the ovens are bad.
‘And yet, somehow it becomes this rich specialty with tomato sauce and all the other toppings. It becomes this in America then comes back.’