Milsurp After Hours

Taken last week in Florence.

Did you know that the tomato sauce commonly found on pizza today came round about from America? At least according to this wikipedia blurb it did.

The innovation which gave us the particular flat bread we call “pizza” was the use of tomato as a topping. For some time after the tomato was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as are some other fruits of the nightshade family). However, by the late 18th century it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and so the pizza was born. The dish gained in popularity, and soon Pizza became a tourist attraction as visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city in order to try the local speciality.

I didn't know that - thanks We had some BEAUTIFUL but simple food when we were there. I ate and drank lots and still lost 1½lbs!

"...For some time after the tomato was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as are some other fruits of the nightshade family). However, by the late 18th century it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and so the pizza was born...."

I believe that part of the 'poisonous tomato' myth came about because the 'middling wealthy' ate from pewter plates and 16th Century pewter had a high lead content, the mild acidity of the fruit tended to leech some of the lead from the pewter surface - Hey Presto, the tomatoes are seen as poisonous - the poorer classes couldn't afford pewter (and the very poor couldn't afford plates - full stop!). Hence the use of tomatoes at the 'lower end' of the recipe market - such as proto-pizza.

Just a thought.

Tom