I was digging a bit about early pizza mentions this morning (I keep a spreadsheet) and came across this on a blog called Skittish Library. Estelle, the keeper of the blog, posted it after reading about the New York Times not mentioning pizza until 1944 (more on that here). It’s from the December 22, 1860 issue of the South London Chronicle. Very cool info in this blurb in terms of reference points for how pizza was eaten back in the day!
The takeaways…
1. Pizza is described as being a late night food (only eaten between sunset and 3am)
2. Described with tomato added AFTER the cheese
3. Bake time quoted at 5 minutes, much longer than contemporary Neapolitan pizza
4. Described as being crispy, which is also unlike contemporary Neapolitan pizza
5. Pizza is eaten by people from all walks of life, rich and poor. It is a “social leveler.”
6. Pizzerias are filthy
*I originally posted this with incomplete information about the date of the 1860 article but have edited it in.
