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Pompeii fresco find possibly depicts 2,000-year-old form of pizza


robinjojo

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13 minutes ago, robinjojo said:

"An early form of pizza Margherita, with a kind of cheese spread." 

The Pompeiians probably would have enjoyed their local Dominos. 

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Posted (edited)

That is a very interesting fresco depicting the pizza, or near pizza.   While the wall of the fresco could be part of a house or establishment, I wonder if it could be part of a place that made bread and other baked goods.  I've seen other excavated parts that are clearly market stalls.  

 

Edited by robinjojo
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Yes, @robinjojo, since, thank you, this is The Guardian, you could wish the article was more specific about what's known about the building.  But it does drop some broad hints.  At least there's some circumstantial evidence in place.  ...Now I have to revisit the BBC article, which was what I saw first.

Regardless, this is cool stuff!  Now I want some pizza. 

...Speaking of which, does anyone know how far back pesto goes?  Along with, um, kimchee and collard greens (especially as home-made by church ladies --in both cases), that's one of the things that make me ask myself, 'How long could you live on this?' 

Edited by JeandAcre
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3 hours ago, JeandAcre said:

Yes, @robinjojo, since, thank you, this is The Guardian, you could wish the article was more specific about what's known about the building.  But it does drop some broad hints.  At least there's some circumstantial evidence in place.  ...Now I have to revisit the BBC article, which was what I saw first.

Regardless, this is cool stuff!  Now I want some pizza. 

...Speaking of which, does anyone know how far back pesto goes?  Along with, um, kimchee and collard greens (especially as home-made by church ladies --in both cases), that's one of the things that make me ask myself, 'How long could you live on this?' 

Here's Wikipedia on pesto:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesto

 

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Here is a clear photo of the 'Pompeii pizza'.

 

pompeiipizza2.jpg.9f0530d8b131a3969f76623146321b50.jpg

 

And a couple of great articles concerning the newly discovered 'pizza'.

https://tavolamediterranea.com/2023/06/27/a-second-fresco-of-mensae-flatbread-discovered-at-pompeii/

http://pompeiisites.org/en/comunicati/pompeii-a-still-life-discovered-by-the-new-excavations-of-regio-ix/

Bon appétit!

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Most of the ancient food experts now believe the object in question is a form of focaccia, that looks like a small pizza ☺️. I was shopping in a Wegmans supermarket yesterday in Chili, NY,  & in their bread department they had a variety of focaccias for sale. Pictured below is a focaccia with black olives from the Wegmans store below the fresco. Focaccia have thick dough like a Sicilian pizza. BTW, tomatoes have only been used in Italy for about 200 years. Pompeianfrescofocciaca.jpg.b3f61efc9bd7dc7e117a47b2c2d3fd65.jpg

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I think the Roman focaccia there has feta cheese on it.

But I just read that feta cheese (attributed to the Greeks of Cyprus) was first mentioned by the Byzantine historian Michael Psellos in an 11th century document. Doesn't keep it from having a feta-like substance on it, though. Rather than tomato it might be pomegranate, a fruit favored by the Romans. I had a similar round flat pizza in Egypt outside the temple of Horus at Edfu. A certain Mr. Osman smothered a sort of flatbread crust with eggs, fuul, feta, and pomegranate as a breakfast repaste served at his inn. I am not sure that the pomegranate really went with the other ingredients. 

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12 hours ago, Edessa said:

Is it just me, or does anyone else see a dog to the right begging?

Exactly what I saw as I skimmed this. Altho not begging, helping himself while owner is away

Edited by AETHER
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