Wednesday 7 September 2005

Pizza

Angie raised the subject of pizza so I thought I'd bring her up to date on the origins of this famous dish.

Pizza was introduced to these islandsfrom Italy by the Romans when wild pizza seeds were carried over in the hem of their tunics in 55 BC. The seeds fell onto the roadside verges and in our mild and temperate climate they flourished. Long years under the Roman yoke and then successive invasions from the north and south saw the inhabitants of the British Isles sustained on cultivated pizza. When groups left to colonise other parts of the world they took their cherished pizza seeds and in this way pizza arrived in the New World. Convicts smuggled pizza to Australia and during the Raj muligatawny pizza was grown in the lee of the tea plantations. Pizza is now a world dish but it's best eaten fresh, beware the frozen pizza as all the vitamin C is killed by freezing.

Hope that helps.

15 careful considerations:

Rob said...

Pizza must be harvested at the same time as spaghetti, presumably...

pal said...

I think wild garlic arrived in the UK much the same way!

Ummm what do all the - updated by your blog links mean? I'm getting anxious that I'm not doing something I should be!

Nogbad said...

Absoluteley Rob - I'm sure there are many of us who remember seeing that valuable film of the old spaghetti growing methods before big business necame involved.

The "Updated" thingy is done by Blogrolling, the people who keep the list up to date and the people responsible if the list doesn't appear. It's a cool tool as it gives a one-click jibby-jobby on the browser that I click if I hit a blog I want to add to the blog list.

Ang said...

Pizza seeds. mmmmmhmmmmm ... and I thought I was silly!

Btw if I don't have a pizza a week I go into withdrawals. That and I hate to cook so I'll make any excuse to order pizza. And the best toppings on one --- just garlic and tomatoes. Yummy!!

Is 10am too early for pizza?

Nogbad said...

Is 10am too early for anything? Beer is good at 9am so a pizza seems reasonable doesn't it?

kat said...

I prefer hot pizza. I find that the frozen ones are a little difficult to eat and handle well. I can't understand why they don't put them on a big stick.

Wendy said...

hehehehe, now that was funny! You silly goose!

Ang said...

Beer at 9am?? Yuck! Only thing I can drink that early in the morning is water.

Now sex early in the morning --- that is a different matter all together.

But well, I'll shut up now.

Echomouse said...

whoaaaa....pizza comes in seeds???? ;)

Nogbad said...

Squid - I wonder if we have a language issue again? Here a grill might also be heat from above, i.e. a cooker might have a grill (as distinct from a griddle - heat from below as with a BBQ). Some pizzas can be grilled (heated from above) but they are usually the cheaper wild pizzas. High quality cultivars (or the really good wild ones) are only prepared in the oven.

For some reason any comments left by you Ms EM are not sent to my email address - weird! Of course pizza comes from seeds! I'm surprised that you crazy Canadians don't have a 30' statue of a pizza seed! :-)

Rob said...

"It's a cool tool as it gives a one-click jibby-jobby on the browser" There you go, blinding me with obscure technical terms again...

Anonymous said...

:-)

Sex, beer, pizza, techno-babble....

Nog's place is just so cool!

Nogbad said...

I think we need gurls next GW! :-)

Anonymous said...

We have angie and pal.....
I think that counts.
I draw the line at bestiality though EM & wendy. Well, bestiality that would involve copious amounts of packaging tape anyway.

Nogbad said...

Ah yes Squid - this is where I think the wheels may be a tad loose and possibly coming off completely. That's a BBQ but not a grill here in UKLand. Here I might turn on a grill to make some cheese on toast. The grill being most appropriate because the heat is above the food stuff rather than below it as in the BBQ scenario. Heat from above is the best way of grilling free-range pizza if a full-blown pizza over situation isn't possible.