Once upon a time pizza in America was a rather inexpensive peasant food. Along with the four million southern Italians who had come to this country by 1900 came the pizza. They were made casalinga (home style) in a manner that had been passed down from generation to generation, without a recipe.
The first pizzeria opened in New York City’s Little Italy in a grocery store in 1905. In 1912 Joe’s Tomato Pie opened in New Jersey (pizzas were once known as tomato pies). By the end of 1930 many other pizzerias in several other northern cities were in business, operated by Italians. Pizza remained very much an ethnic food eaten by Italians in the urban areas where they had settled.
It wasn’t until after World War II that pizzas began to grow in popularity, and today they are everyone’s food.
When the GIs who had been stationed in Italy returned home, they wanted more pizza. It was even one of these GIs who built the first Bakers Pride pizza oven, the type used in pizza cooking today.
Between ...