Australians love Italian food, most especially pizza! We eat pizza on the weekends, at parties, when we go out to eat, and while watching a game with friends, any time you feel like celebrating, pizza will be on the menu!
Lucky for us, there are lots of great places to eat this food of the gods down under, you can get the best pizza in Torquay, eat it in their cosy restaurant, or box it up to take home with you, it’s always easy and delicious!
Considering what a strong tradition eating pizza has become for us, we sometimes forget that it, like most things here, originally came from somewhere else- faraway Italy, that charming country full of wonderful food that also gave us spaghetti and lasagne! As it turns out, some of the styles and combos we love aren’t exactly true to the native version, so what exactly is a real, traditional Italian pizza?
Well, Italian pizza generally only comes with one type of crust, the one we call thin crust, and with fewer ingredients loaded on top of it. Let’s take a look now at the real pizzas the Italians enjoy, some of which you can find Down Under, too!
Neapolitan Pizza – This is often held up as the most iconic style of Italian pizza, it originated in Naples, from whence it took its name. Neapolitan has the signature Italian thin, soft crust, and it’s always baked quickly in a wood-fired oven at very high temperatures so that the edges are slightly charred with a soft, chewy centre. The toppings are very simple, mozzarella cheese, San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, and salt. That’s it, no more, no less!
Margherita Pizza – This is an offshoot of the Neapolitan pizza that legend states was first created by Naples pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito to honour Italy’s Queen Margherita in 1889. The pizza is made to feature the Italian flag’s colours- green basil, red tomatoes, and white mozzarella. This very simple and patriotic combination is amazingly flavourful, and is a proud symbol of the ancient Italian culinary tradition. It is said that the Margherita pizza is the Italian people’s favourite pizza.
Marinara Pizza – They say that less is more, and this very simple and basic pizza really puts that idea to the test! It only has the following ingredients spread over its thin crust- tomato, garlic, oil, and basil. If you want to get fancy, some oregano is allowed! Many people ask why the pizza is named ‘marinara’ which has a connotation of being from the sea, but there are no clams, squid, or prawns in sight. The reason is that these were the only ingredients early Italian sailors could keep on long sea voyages, so the name actually could be translated as ‘Mariner’s Pizza’.
There are a few more real Italian pizza recipes, and some of them even feature items we would expect to see like olives, mushrooms, and sliced meats, but we have run out of space today. Maybe the next time you visit your local pizzeria you can skip the big everything on it combo or the peanut sauce chicken, and try one of these recipes, they are the real deal! “Buon appetito!”
