History of National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day
Although there is no factual origin of this cod-less Pizza day and people continue to wonder about its origin, it does not mean this day cannot still be celebrated. In fact, if we go into the details of pizza making its way to America, we can find that the first restaurant pizza was made in New York City’s Little Italy in 1905.
But where does the idea of putting fish (anchovies) on the pizza come from? Well, if we go back in time and see what the Ancient Romans did, we would see that they used to put fermented fish on their flat breads. The Greeks had a pie which they called a “pita”, which could have led to the word entering the Roman (later Italian) vocabulary. The recipe stayed around the early days of pizza, and mozzarella was used as the cheese of choice. As pizza became more popular, and people added their own preferences, different ingredients were experimented with, and this is where anchovies crept in as a topping.
Pizza has been described as the favorite meal of Americans, especially since World War II. Since then, there have been different recipes and varieties of pizza, with a wide array of toppings. There always has been a group of people who have ridiculed the beloved pizza with anchovies as topping choice – so much so that only 3 in every 1,000 people would admit to selecting anchovy as a topping of choice. So this day celebrates the mainstream taste regarding pizza.
