The History of Pizza
"The origin of the word "pizza" first appeared in 997 in Medieval Latin. It was in Naples, Italy in the 16th century that a flatbread was referred to as a pizza. Pizza was then only a baker's tool, simply a dough used to verify the temperature of the oven.
The pizza as we know it today was born in June 1889, to honor the Queen Margherita of Savoy. On her behalf a Neapolitan chef named Raffaele Esposito created the first "Pizza Margherita", a pizza that was garnished with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, olive oil and basil, to represent the colors of the Italian flag."
So, what happens when curiosity gets the better of you? You end up trying Nordic Pizza. What, is the difference between Italian Pizza and Nordic Pizza? Well, I’m glad you asked, I have done the research and here is what I found out. Firstly the question arose - is pizza actually Italian? If the first official pizza was in 1889 for the Queen of Savoy (according to the pizza box) and part of Savoy had been ceded by the Italians in 1860 to France, then couldn’t that make pizza a French invention …………?
Just saying!
Secondly, the dough is prepared differently. Nordic Pizza is often made on wholegrain, stoneground spelt flour or alternatively you can use all-purpose flour in the dough. Interesting to note also, is that the dough ball is called a pizza bund – well I found that interesting.
I had noticed that the dough tasted slightly different and had a different texture, which is what made me curious. I also gathered that you are more likely to find things such as shrimp on a Nordic Pizza.
So here I am staring at the menu board, looking at all of the pizzas and thinking to myself that they all looked fairly similar to the regular pizzas. I asked what was the more “Nordic” of the pizzas and I was directed to the Finnish Special (Kummiseta). We also ordered what they named “The Spicy Hot One”. We only ordered a small one of those.
So let’s talk about the spicy one first.
For a small pizza, it was still big enough to come in two small pizza boxes (they had to cut it in half to fit). When I opened this bad boy up, I could smell the cheese and I could smell the hot sauce and I could see those little jalepenos soldiers all lined up in a row, ready to attack my tastebuds.
I thought to myself, here we go, this is going to blow the top of my head clear off, with the Salami leading the charge. You’ll be pleased to know that the top of my head is still where it should be, and the pizza had barely enough boom to blow my nose. Actually, that’s not true – it was everything a spicy pizza lover would want in a spicy pizza.
The Kummiseta as a medium pizza was 15” and well and truly enough for two people (with leftovers). With ham, prawn, mushroom, asparagus, double cheese and garlic sauce this was absolutely worth trying. There was enough difference in the tomato paste and pizza dough to make this Nordic pizza stand out as something new and make me curious to learn more.
So if you are driving out that way and are tempted to stop you will be treated to something that steps slightly to the left of what you’re used to when it comes to pizza. The pizza is made right in front of you and is a far cry from any of those big chain pizza shops. As for value for money, we got two pizzas, had leftovers and a new experience and paid less than $30.00.
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