Intrepid adventurer Anna Orchard has reported from London, England a discovery that may shock you to your very core. Although pizza had become quite popular in Naples, Italy by the late 19th century, common lore tells us that it was relatively unknown beyond small Italian enclaves at that time. Yet a definition for the word has been found in a publication called Commercial Dictionary of Trade Products, published by George Routledge and Sons in 1892.
The London-based publisher apparently found pizza to be significant enough to include in the book, although the definition is quite abrupt. “A sort of cake” is all we get. Perhaps the most interesting part about this is that the word pizza and the modern dish pizza have not always been attached. In the 16th century, the word referred to something more like a cinnamon bun than a savory dish. I’m curious about how this word got into the book. Perhaps it had multiple uses in different parts of Italy. The search continues….
