Pompeii surprises again, this time in the kitchen area. famous city Destroyed by Mount Vesuvius In 79, he unearthed a two-thousand-year-old fresco. still life and as it seems ancestor of pizzaThe invention, as it stands today, originated in the nearby city of Naples in southern Italy.
The information was announced with a great show by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage these days. The rendered image looks like “pizza, but definitely not pizza because lacks some ingredients very characteristic as tomatoes and mozzarella” delivered.
However, the discovery “may represent a distant ancestor The current dish, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2017,traditional art between pizzeria They argued as Neapolitan (pizzeria). A kind of thing observed in this direction focaccia (a pizza without sauce).
without tomatoes
The represented image serves as the “base” for various fruitsincluding a pomegranate and possibly a date, seasoned with spices or maybe a type of pestoindicated by yellowish and ocher dots,” he added. The reason why the tomato did not appear seems obvious: This popular fruit only reached Europe after the discovery of the Americas.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, also drew attention to the “contrast”. frugal and simple mealevoking a space between the pastoral and the sacred on the one hand, the luxury of silver plates and the complexity of artistic and literary representations on the other.”How not to think about pizzaBorn as a humble dish from Southern Italy that conquered the world and was even served in luxury restaurants? likewise Zuchtriegel.
Italian Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, said in a more enthusiastic tone: “Pompeii never ceases to amaze‘ and always ‘reveals new wonders’.
open discussion
Archaeologists announced that the fresco was discovered in 2000. an adjacent house to an kiln, part of which was excavated in the 19th century (in 1888 and 1891). Also, in recent weeks skeletons of three victims There are ongoing investigations in an area of 22 hectares in the same place.
This finding is also A discussion about what food really represents the frescoes. This question even came up. European Food Safety Authority. “Focaccia or pizza? No, this time not some enthusiast’s dilemma A gastronomic lover of what’s made in Italy. “The institution is rather what emerges from an analysis of a still life found on a fresco during excavations in District 10 of Pompeii IX.”
coldiretti, farmers association The Italians also celebrated the discovery. “From the time of Pompeii to the present day, pizza has gained value every two thousand years. 15,000 million eurosSymbol of the worldwide success of the Mediterranean diet and also tourism and culture”, the organization commented. “Only in Italy every day, about 8 million pizzas Thanks to the hard work of more than 100,000 full-time employees, 200,000 on weekends (…),” they detailed.