In its basic form, a pizza (occasionally, pizza pie) is an oven-baked, flat, usually circular bread covered with tomato sauce and cheese with optional garnishes and toppings.
The cheese is usually mozzarella or sometimes "pizza cheese". Various other foodstuffs can be added to this design as garnishes, most typically ground meats and sausages, such as salami, pepperoni, ham, bacon and ground beef; fruits such as pineapple and olives; vegetable-like fruits such as chili peppers, sweet bell peppers and tomatoes; and vegetables such as onions. Mushrooms are also a popular topping. The crust is traditionally plain but can be flavoured with butter, garlic, herbs, or sesame. Pizza is normally eaten hot (typically at lunch or dinner), but leftovers are often eaten cold, typically at breakfast or on a picnic.
Pizza is eaten in restaurants sometimes called pizzerias or pizza parlors. It can also be purchased in grocery stores or supermarkets; in many countries, pizza can also be ordered by phone (or, increasingly, via the Web) to be delivered, hot and ready for eating, to the home.
The word "pizza" is from the Italian word pizza (IPA: /pittsa/), which was originally used to refer to a range of dough-based dishes, and whose derivation is thought to be pizza ? pinza ? Latin pincere "to mash up".[1] [2] The expression Che pizza! is still used to mean "What a mess!". The plural of the word in Italian is pizze
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| It has been said that the name "mozzarella",
which is clearly derived from southern Italian dialects, was the
diminuitive form of mozza (cut), or mozzare (to cut off). Other
theories describe its origins as a minor preparation of "scamozza"
(Scamorza cheese), which in its turn probably derives from "scamozzata"
("without a shirt"), with allusion to the fact that these
cheeses have no hard surface covering typical of a dry cured cheese.
In agriculture, olive oil is an oil extracted from the
fruit of the European olive tree (Olea europaea L.), which originated
in the Mediterranean area. It is used in cooking, cosmetics,
and soaps. Olive oil is regarded as a healthful dietary oil because
of its high content of monounsaturated fat. |