To America We Go

Soon after Margherita devoured her first tricolor, Italian transplants brought pizza across the Atlantic to immigrant-dense America.“Back in Italy, pizza was traditionally sold by the pie,” explains Jeff Mahin, a partner in the restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You . “But in the U.S., many Italian immigrants would ask to buy portions, thus giving birth to the slice. Either way, pizza was a filling meal at a cheap cost, making it increasingly popular among the country’s laboring class.”Take America’s first pizzeria as an example. When Lombardi’s initially opened in Manhattan in 1905 , it catered to the city’s factory workers. At five cents per pie, it made pizza easily accessible. (A 10-year closure means Jersey’s Papa's Tomato Pies is technically the longest-operating spot in the U.S. , though.) Thanks to people like Gennaro Lombardi, pizza spread like rapid fire — first to Chicago and then across the rest of the country.“Much like today’s food trucks, pizza was the It food of the day,” Mahin says. “Cheap, warm, and filling. The other thing about pizza was its ability to travel — slices could be enjoyed in moments between jobs, perfect for the hard-working conditions of the time.”The trendiness of pizza continued to grow throughout the 20th century, especially after World War II. Returning soldiers ached for the authentic crusts they’d come to love while stationed in Italy, leading to a boom of new vendors across the country.“Then there was the concurrent rise of suburban living,” says Pandel. “The 1950s and 1960s pretty much mandated that every family should have a couple of kids, a couple of cars, and a home of their own. Convenient, frozen pizza pies fit easily into that lifestyle — the frozen-food aisles at newly founded supermarkets were booming. And, with the development of pizza delivery in the '60s, its fate as America's most convenient food was sealed.”“It’s the do-it-all food,” continues Mahin. “It transcends categories. You can get the most artisan, hand-crafted pizza — one tossed by a certified pizzaiolo — or you can reheat it by the slice at 2 a.m. Both versions of pizza are delicious. It’s undefinable.”And no matter where you eat pizza, it has a strong nostalgia factor. “I still remember the pizza place down the street from my [childhood] house,” recalls Mahin. “The bad, red-checkered tablecloths and the three arcade games in the back that always stole my quarters. We pizza chefs of today are always tiptoeing around memories.”