Archaeologists in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have uncovered a painting which depicts what might be the precursor to the Italian pizza.

The flatbread depicted in the 2,000-year-old fresco “may be a distant ancestor of the modern dish”, Italy’s culture ministry said.

But it lacks the classic ingredients to technically be considered a pizza.

The fresco was found in the hall of a house next to a bakery during recent digs at the site in southern Italy.

  • @[email protected]
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    201 year ago

    But it lacks the classic ingredients to technically be considered a pizza.

    What are the required ingredients? Can they be sure the ingredients are not hidden underneath the ones on top?

    • @[email protected]M
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      121 year ago

      90% sure it’s tomatoes. They are not native to Europe and were only introduced in the colonial era.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        I get pizza without tomatoes all the time. Chicken bacon ranch pizza contains zero tomatoes. I need to talk to this uninformed pizza gatekeeper.

        • pancakes
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          11 year ago

          This brings up a good point. BBQ chicken pizza, donair pizza, and pesto pizza all don’t have tomatoes.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Required? I’d go with water, flour, yeast, salt, olive oil.

      After that it becomes difficult as a pizza bianca with nothing else but olive oil would be strange, you generally get at least garlic and some cheese, but that’s the minimal set of ingredients shared by every pizza.

      OTOH, cheese might actually be a requirement, can’t think of a cheese-free pizza right now. Oh this is going to piss of the vegans.

      Things may or may not get more complicated, depending on what you consider Pizza, if you include Flammkuchen which doesn’t require yeast or olive oil, and also comes cheese-free by default, instead using some sort of sour cream (and onions and ham). If you ever manage to get your hand on Federweißer, that is a killer combination.

    • @[email protected]
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      51 year ago

      may have been eaten with fruits such as pomegranates or dates, or dressed with spices and a type of pesto sauce

    • @Anonymouse
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      51 year ago

      Pineapple and Canadian bacon, of course!

      • @instamat
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        21 year ago

        Just pile on the hot fruit

    • @instamat
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      21 year ago

      That’s what makes this article great. The writer leaves it to your imagination!

      • @lightsecond
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        61 year ago

        Tomatoes were only introduced to Italy in the 1500s (from the Americas) so i highly doubt they had tomatoes in Pompeii at that time. :)

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      I don’t know which ingredients are required but I don’t think they had tomatoes at that time. Wasn’t they discovered in the new world?