Italian Food @Solsticepublish

I had some relatives over tonight somewhat unexpectedly.  It was great to see them but the first thought that came to my mind was that it was close to dinner time and I had nothing defrosted to feed the number of people I had over.  My solution was not so different than the one many of you would reach.  Pizza.  Ah, what a glorious invention pizza is.  You have an entire meal in the palm of your hand.  You have your bread, vegetable, meat and dairy in a neatly sliced circle of heaven.  Unless you are cooking it is usually the cheapest way to feed a good number of people.  A five minute car ride to our local pizza place and dinner was ready.  As I ate I couldn’t help but wonder what people did before there was pizza?  A quick look on line showed that the term has been around since the year 997 A.D. in Italy.  The item itself has various origins but seems to be credited to the Italians for the most part.  So let’s just say for convenience that pizza came about at that time.  Since then it has grown into a staple, a comfort food and a delicacy.  Italian immigrants brought the sensation to the new world and it exploded into our culture.  Few foods have had the impact of pizza.  Still, there’s a lot off history before 997 A.D.  What did people feed to houseguests before that?  It looks like the Italians come to the rescue again with pasta dishes like spaghetti, ravioli and lasagna.  While many Italian dishes take considerable time to prepare, a humble pasta and sauce is an inexpensive relatively easy meal to make on short notice.  It simply involves boiling some water and tomato sauce.  Italian food has become a mainstay in American culture.  Different ethnic foods have niches.  There is Chinese (Americanized) Food, Mexican (Americanized), Indian, Tia, Vietnamese, French, German and the list goes on.  They all represent different tastes many people sample from time to time.  With the exception of Mexican food, none of them are staples of weekly life in America the way Italian food is.  Perhaps it’s the tomato sauce?  Perhaps it’s the cheese?  Maybe we just like dough in some form and people wanted more than plain bread.  Whatever the reason, people love Italian food.  They especially appreciate it when they have many mouths to feed.  So sit back and have a slice of pizza, a piece of lasagna or a bowl of pasta with some friends or family.  Italian has become a big part of the new American Cuisine.