Food historian claims tomato sauce on pizza is an American invention, outraging Italians: ‘Blasphemous’
Italian pie-hards wanted a pizza him.
Food historian Alberto Grandi had the nation’s pie makers up in arms after controversially claiming that the US — and not The Boot — is responsible for “pizza rossa:” the red tomato sauce that tops pizza.
The culinary expert dropped these “blasphemous” gastronomic theories in his and fellow academic Daniele Soffiati’s book “La Cucina Italiana Non Esiste – Italian Cuisine Does Not Exist,” which strives to dispel myths surrounding the cuisine, the Telegraph reported.
“Pizza became red in America,” Grandi, who teaches at the University of Parma in northern Italy, declared in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper. “The plant is from America and so is the use of tomato sauce as the basis for our cuisine.”
The authors claim this so-called lifeblood of Italian cooking was only really discovered by Italians when millions started emigrating to the US during the “Italian diaspora” between 1880 and 1920. They then supposedly returned to the motherland with the now-ubiquitous secret sauce, effectively painting the town red with marinara.
Before this culinary cross-pollination, pizza in Italy consisted of a circular piece of focaccia with various toppings, authors contend.
In fact, the US started mass-producing tomato sauce in the 19th century, prompting Italian immigrants to open up so many pizzerias that they outnumbered their Italian counterparts by WW2, per the book.
“When American soldiers landed in Sicily, they discovered to their surprise that pizzerias barely existed in Italy,” the authors wrote.
Needless to say, Italy’s proud pizzaiolos swallowed this pie-pothesis about as well as a ketchup-slathered slice.
“That’s rubbish, I don’t believe that’s true,” declared Gianni Altrui, a nearly 30-year pizza maker at Rome’s Pizza Re trattoria who cranks out nearly 300 pies a day. “It’s the Americans who learned from the Italians when it comes to food, not the other way around.”
He claims red pizza actually dates back to 1889 in Naples with the invention of the Margherita, which takes its name from the Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, the Telegraph reported.
This flagship pizza was adorned with basil, mozzarella and tomato to match the green, white and red colors of the Italian flag, per Altrui.
Fellow pizzeria owner Clariston Alves of Antica Trattoria Agonale claimed it was “ridiculous” to say that the iconic pie is an American invention, arguing: “The Americans may have adapted it, but I don’t think they invented it.” Perhaps it seemed paradoxical that Italy, an alleged bastion of old-world cuisine, would “appropriate” the crimson crust from the US, which is known for borrowing from cuisines the world over.
Nonetheless, Grandi says he doesn’t understand the attacks given that he’s not questioning the “quality of Italian food or products” but rather reconstructing the history of these dishes via rigorous research.
“With my studies, I have shown that many preparations derive from the last 50-60 years of history and from interactions with Atlantic culture,” told La Repubblica.
Pizza’s alleged New World origins aren’t the only bombshell he allegedly discovered during his studies: Grandi also alleges that spaghetti carbonara, another classic Italian dish, was born during the Second World War using the bacon, cheese and powdered eggs brought over by US soldiers.
Grandi believes that Italian pie-hards are allowing cultural pride to trump evidence, declaring: We wrongly talk about identity: cuisine changes continuously.”
He also feels that critics are striving to maintain a distinct Italian identity they believe is being eroded away by globalization and immigration.
To wit, the country’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni appointed a minister for food sovereignty and lambasting laboratory-grown meat and insect-based food products, the Telegraph reported.
“We are a country that is going through an identity crisis and food is one of the few things to be proud of,” declared Grandi.
