We call for pizza takeaway, and within 30 minutes or so, there’s a knock at the door, and our pizza is delivered right to our homes, piping hot. It may even seem as if pizza delivery always existed, but it didn’t. So when was the worlds first pizza delivery, and who ordered it?

The Worlds First Pizza Delivery

It is speculated that the worlds first pizza delivery took place in 1889. Naples pizzeria owner, Raffaele Esposito, was believed to have delivered a pizza to the king and queen of Italy while they were visiting the city. It is said that the queen wanted to try this new style food called pizza pie, but couldn’t bring herself to actually visit a pizza establishment.

When American service men came home from overseas after World War II, they brought with them a palate for pizza, which was already quite popular in Europe. It wasn’t until after World War II, when the automobile started to become a more accessible commodity, that home pizza delivery started to come onto the scene.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Domino’s Pizza founder, Tom Monaghan, however, was the person most credited with the new age of pizza delivery.

“Delivery at the time was pretty minimal, so I decided to focus on that, and it was the best thing I’ve done. Nobody thought you could make money on delivery. Most places just delivered to get some volume before they could afford to cut out the delivery. But I thought I could do it,” said Monaghan in an interview with Fortune Magazine in the late sixties.

Although he was not responsible for the worlds first pizza delivery, Melbourne and the rest of the world continue to benefit from Tom Monaghan’s insight, determination, and perseverance.

Aussie Pizza Connoisseur
Melbourne Pizza Delivery © 2009-2010

Thanks To You – Signore Esposito

The man who is credited as the father of modern pizza we know and love today is Raffaele Esposito. In 1889 he was a baker/pizza maker selling his wares on the streets of Naples, which at the time was considered a peasant food. Thus, when Esposito was called to the palace to create personal pizzas for King Umberto and his wife Queen Margherita di Savoia, it caused quite a stir.

Determined to rise to the royal challenge, Esposito decided to step up the traditional Italian anchovy and mushroom pie, and created three different flavor combinations for the King and Queen’s pleasure. One was a plain dough topped with cheese, basil, and pork fat; the second was a combination with garlic, tomatoes, and oil; and the last was a tribute to the home country (Italy, of course) designed in the colors of the Italian flag (green, red, and white), which was topped with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella cheese.

The Queen Of Pizza – The Margherita

Although the Queen wrote in thanks to Esposito and enjoyed all the three flavor combinations, her favorite was the tomato, basil, and mozzarella combination. This combination was named for the Queen, being dubbed the ‘Pizza Margherita‘, and soon came to be the standard for pizza, and the basis from which the modern pizza and its many new variations were born.

We here at Melbourne Pizza Delivery stand and salute the father of modern pizza… Signore Esposito.

Aussie Pizza Connoisseur
Melbourne Pizza Delivery © 2009

From Italy, With Love

The first pizza migration occurred as Italians began to immigrate, primarily to the United States in search of the “good life” and the American dream.  Lovers of their food and their home country, Italians took their favorite recipes and traditions, and pizza was one of them.  That in itself is not all that surprising, especially considering that pizza was considered a cheap and accessible food for peasants, and many went to America with little funding.

Italians began setting up shop and selling pizzas in the sections where they lived in the states around 1900, in corner pizza stands and small cafes.  These were located primarily in the inner cities where the immigrant populations were high, and most notably in New York and Chicago in the U.S.

Pizza, Out Of The Ashes

Although pizza was available in the U.S. and in some other countries (like Spain, France, and England) from the early 1900′s on, it was not all that popular a dish.  It was largely a food that was enjoyed culturally among the Italians.  It was not until the outbreak of World War II that pizza began to catch on as the truly international treat that it is today.

Soldiers serving and occupying Italy came to know and love pizza, and took that love home with them when they returned to their various countries.  Pizza suddenly became an in-demand food, especially in the U.S., and the love spread rather quickly around the world as word and taste caught on.  It seems there must be some truth to the term “The Fortunes of War” after all.

Aussie Pizza Connoisseur
Melbourne Pizza Delivery © 2009

Pizza History

For starters, to decide who really holds claim to the invention of the pizza, you need to define what you mean by the word. Generally, historians and culinary enthusiasts consider a pizza to be a dish that starts with a round, unleavened bread (the dough!) which is then covered with layers such as a sauce and a cheese layer—today’s most typically, of course, being a tomato-based sauce layered with cheese and then various toppings.

Using this as a loose guide, we can trace today’s pizza ancestors back to several cultures and cousins. A few of those include:

• A flat bread covered with cheese and dates that is said to have been baked on the shields of Persian soldiers in sixth century BC.
• Early Greek creations consisting of flat, round breads covered with oil, herbs and spices, and dates. Sensing a trend?
• 19th century flat-breads (served plain) on the streets of Italy, sold cheap to peasants, which became a favorite of the then Queen of Italy, Queen Margherita, who had a pizza named after her (guess which one).

The Pizza Queen

Queen Margherita, who discovered her street-pizza in 1889, is the one most often credited with the modern version of pizza as it exists today. It was Queen Margherita who summoned Chef Rafaelle Esposito to court to cook for her (perhaps we should credit her with the notion of Pizza Delivery, too?), creating for her a pizza topped with tomatoes, cheese, and basil, among other versions. The tomato and cheese-topped version of the plain flat bread came to be a favorite food of the Queen, and the rest, as they so often say, is pizza history.

Aussie Pizza Connoisseur
Melbourne Pizza Delivery © 2009