Pizza: An Integrative Assignment

Pizza is a blank canvas that can be “painted” with toppings or left blank. Whether it be adding shrimp, pepperoni, sausage, anything your heart desires, or leaving it plain, pizza is a food that can bring people together as it can be added to as someone wishes, even if it seems like an odd topping, if it is enjoyed, that’s what matters. Pizza is a uniting food and, as it is a food both the rich and the poor enjoy, can cross barriers that can otherwise be hard to break through.

1. & 2. Assumption & Dish

I had always assumed that – since its invention – pizza was a dish that was always consumed by everyone in Italy. I never knew that it was originally a food that was majorly consumed by the poor. Knowing it is an Italian food, I had always assumed it played an integral role in all its society, not realizing that it was not until the late 1880s – when Queen Margherita first ate it – that it was then a food popularized for all classes. I had assumed it always had tomato sauce and cheese on it, though I now know that is not the case at all. Like most foods, pizza has undergone many transformations in what it contains, but one component, the crust, is what makes it pizza.

3. Chemical Analysis

Pizza crust, the backbone of pizza. Whether it be thick, thin, crispy, or chewy, the crust is a key part of pizza. Making a perfect crust is a difficult task, as it takes a lot of flour, water, and kneading to form a strong gluten matrix to hold the dough and make the base of a delicious food. To make a gluten matrix, there needs to be a sufficient amount of kneading, but not too much as that will overwork the dough. There is a kind of art that goes into the making of pizza dough, but behind that art is the science of it all. There are disulfide bonds formed between two sulfur atoms in the amino acids that make up the glutenin and gliadin in the protein of the flour that holds the dough together to form the crust. Some of these bonds break when one shapes the dough to make the pizza, but there is still a strong attraction, which is why it takes so long to form the shape of the pizza and takes so much work, because the sulfur wants to pull back to another sulfur to reform the bonds.

4. Cultural Analysis

Pizza went from being a peasants’ food to a food eaten by all very quickly. It started as a food that was highly looked down upon and was a food of commoners and transformed into a food that is loved by people of all economic statuses, ages, and ethnicities. “…a humble dish is liked and enjoyed by a queen and subsequently becomes one of the most popular foods in the world” (Helstosky p 27). It has gone from being a simple dish with few toppings to a canvas where you can create your own masterpiece of art in your own fashion. The rise of fame for pizza drastically changed how people ate. People in Europe who had power would typically eat French cuisine as it was viewed to be high-class, fancy food; then Queen Margherita shook that concept at its core by going to Naples and eating pizza and having the Margherita pizza named after her, as that was the one she most enjoyed.

Pizza has been eaten for centuries but started in a different form than the one we know now. Pizza originally was dough with few toppings, usually consisting of garlic, lard, and salt, but with the introduction of tomatoes from South America, it has developed into the pizza we know and love. Pizza now comes in so many different styles, made in so many ways, and has become a beloved food by many.

5. Integration

I note a connection between the strong gluten matrix in the dough and the strong relationship that has grown between people because of pizza. Like the dough before kneading, the people were separated by what they ate. The rich would eat their fancy, French food; the poor would eat their foods, like polenta and pizza. The kneading of the dough to start the gluten matrix formation is like Queen Margherita trying pizza, bringing the poor food to the rich people. The formed gluten matrices are like pizza now; used as food for all, bringing people together whether it is at birthday parties, or just as an easy meal. Pizza was once called a dirty food but is now a beloved food that so many people around the world indulge in and can make their own. It no longer matters if you are rich or poor, people of all classes have a love of pizza and can bond over that love.

Citations

Helstosky, Carol. Pizza: A Global History. Reaktion Books, 2008.

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