[Leica] About Pizza

[jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols)]

Thanks, Lluis.  A nice history lesson.  And, without Ferdinand and Isabella, 
Christopher Columbus would have been just another sailor.

Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lluis Ripoll Querol" <lluisripollquerol at gmail.com>
To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 5:33 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] About Pizza


> Hi Larry,
>
> I've found very iteresting your historical references to the origin of 
> the Pizza. Here in Catalonia we have also some founded hypothesis  about 
> the origin with some historical prouves. The Sicilia and Napples  regions 
> was conquered by the king of Catalonia and Aragon and many  catalan people 
> has invaded the Napples Region, here you have a short  historical 
> reference:
>
> "History:
> The union of the two territories of Catalonia and Aragon was caused by 
> the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona and Petronila  of 
> Aragon, later Queen of Aragon. This merged the County of Barcelona  with 
> the Kingdom of Aragon under the name of "Crown of Aragon". Their  son, 
> Alfonso II, inherited both titles. This union was made while  respecting 
> the existing institutions of both places. This situation  was maintained 
> until the abolition of the state, beginning 18th century.
>
> The king, James I (13th century), conquered new territories and 
> incorporated Majorca and the region of Valencia to the state. Valencia 
> was made a new kingdom with its own institutions, and so the third  member 
> of the confederation. Majorca, together with the counties of  Cerdanya and 
> Roussillon and the city of Montpellier, were given to his  son James and 
> were named Kingdom of Majorca, but these territories  were reincorporated 
> in year 1349.
>
> The expansion through Mediterranean sea continued (Sicily, Minorca, 
> Sardinia). In 1410 king Martin I dies without descendants. This caused 
> Ferdinand of Antequera, from the Castilian dynasty of Trastamara, to  be 
> made king of the Crown of Aragon.
>
> In year 1443, Naples was conquered. Later Ferdinand II of Aragon 
> recovered the northern catalan counties and married queen Isabella I  of 
> Castile in 1479. However, Castile and the Crown of Aragon remained  as 
> different states keeping their own institutions and laws.
>
> The Crown of Aragon was abolished after the War of the Spanish  Succession 
> (1702?1713)."
>
> The the region of Lleida (Lerida in Spanish) was a very poor region,  and 
> the people of the region was eating a certain cooked bread with  some 
> vegetables that they had possibility to collect, on such times it  doesn't 
> exist "rich"  elements as anchovies etc...., this food is  still existing 
> in Catalonia, the name is "Coca de recapte", possibly  the origin of the 
> pizza. The catalan sailors in Napple was ungry and  they have prepared to 
> eat what they was doing in his original country,  after this was 
> developped succesfully by the italians and with an  excellent marketing in 
> USA, the pizza.
>
> Hernando del Pulgar was one of the historiciens man who has writed  about 
> the ceremony of "Los Reyes Catolicos" : Isabel de Castilla and  Fernando 
> de Aragon (Aragon & Catalonia was on the same kingdom) was  married 
> :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile
> and he relates something that coud be a prouve that existing "coca de 
> recapte", they said that this had the appearance like a cake, but not 
> sweet, it was salad with vegetables.
>
> Here you have several images of the Coca de Recapte:
>
> http://images.google.com/images?hl=es&client=safari&rls=en&resnum=0&q=coca+de+recapte&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=cQeHS8GhDZDQjAeqy8irDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBsQsAQwAw
>
> or
>
> http://tinyurl.com/y9mxqyz
>
>
> I found this a very interesting and probably certain history, many 
> regions and cultures has on their own origines similar food,
>
> I hope you found it intersting, thanks for reading
>
> Saludos cordiales
> Lluis ....(the Catalan)
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/
> http://photo.net/photos/lluisripoll
> Blog:
> http://lluisripollphotography.wordpress.com/
>
>
>
> El 25/02/2010, a las 21:30, Lawrence Zeitlin escribi?:
>
>> About Pizza - it is as American as Fortune Cookies.
>>
>>
>> The pizza that the world knows and loves is basically an Italian/ 
>> American
>> invention and owes relatively little but the name to the Neapolitan 
>> variety.
>> At least that's a personal observation. A year prior to the outbreak  of 
>> WW2
>> my family spent a couple of months in Naples, allegedly for a  vacation 
>> but
>> really to help my uncle Max wind up his affairs and immigrate to the  US.
>> Uncle Max was the cantor in one of the larger Jewish synagogues in 
>> Naples,
>> an odd job for a Russian Jew. As a young man he had studied for the 
>> opera
>> stage in Russia prior to the revolution. When he left, one jump  ahead of 
>> the
>> Bolsheviks, he moved to Italy to continue his studies. As one of the  few
>> singers who could read Hebrew, he gravitated to the synagogue and  stayed
>> there for 20 years. Even in shul the Italians appreciated good  singing.
>>
>> My family stayed in his apartment in a lower middle class section of 
>> Naples.
>> His wife wouldn't cook on the sabbath so my brother and I would buy
>> something to eat from the vendor across the street, usually pizza.  As I
>> recall it was a wedge of flat bread drizzled with olive oil with  some 
>> garlic
>> and herbs on top. No cheese, no pepperoni, no anchovies. Just bread.
>>
>> It wasn't until I moved to New York half a century later that I got  the 
>> real
>> story. Pizza, as we know it, was invented by the Italian immigrants 
>> about
>> 1900. They took the traditional Neapolitan pizza and added all the 
>> goodies
>> that were too expensive in Italy. First the tomato sauce, then the 
>> cheese,
>> finally the meat toppings. Fuel was cheap enough so that you could  keep 
>> a
>> pizza oven hot all day and make pizza to order. Thank God. I hated the
>> Neapolitan stuff. It might have been healthier but it left my mouth  all
>> oily.
>>
>> Fortune cookies were invented in Brooklyn, NY.
>>
>>
>> Larry Z
>>
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