Considered
a peasant's meal in Italy for centuries we cannot say who invented the very
first pizza pie. Food historians agree that pizza like dishes were eaten by
many peoples in the Mediterranean including the Greeks and Egyptians. However, modern pizza has been attributed to baker Raffaele Esposito of Naples.
In 1889, Esposito who owned a restaurant called the Pizzeria di Pietro baked
what he called "pizza" especially for the visit of Italian King
Umberto I and Queen Margherita.
The first pizzeria in North America was
opened in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi at 53 1/3 Spring Street in New York City.
The first "Pizza Hut" a chain of
pizza restaurants appeared in the United States during the 1930s.
Have you ever wondered, "Who invented
the circular thing that keeps the pizza from hitting the inside of the box
top?" Well wonder no longer the package saver for pizza and cakes was
invented by Carmela Vitale of Dix Hills, NY, who filed for US patent #4,498,586
on February 10, 1983, issued on February 12, 1985. Special thanks to Howard
Olivier, owner of the Flying Pie Pizzaria in Boise, Idaho, for sending us the
right answer.
A temperature resistant molded plastic device is described for use in boxes or packages such as pizza boxes where there is a tendency of large cover portions to sag downwardly to damage the soft pizza or other packaged products. In use, the saver is positioned near the center of the package to support the box cover for protecting the contents.
