Pompeii's Pizza Puzzle: A 2,000-Year-Old Painting Raises Questions about Early Pizza Evolution

A recently discovered fresco painting at the Pompeii archaeological site suggests that the precursor to pizza might have been topped with fruits.

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The 2,000-year-old painting depicts a round, bready dish with toppings alongside fruits and flowers, resembling modern pizza but lacking essential ingredients.

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Researchers believe that the painting actually represents focaccia bread topped with fruits, spices, and condiments, known as mensa during Roman times.

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Tomatoes and mozzarella cheese, crucial elements of today's pizza, were not available in Rome during that era, making the painting unlikely to depict pizza as we know it.

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The image offers an intriguing contrast between a humble dish associated with the lower class and the use of fine silver dining ware, similar to our perception of pizza today.

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This discovery was made in a house connected to a bakery, where ovens and skeletal remains were also found, shedding light on ancient Roman culinary practices and daily life.

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Pizza's journey from a simple and affordable dish in southern Italy to a global phenomenon, now even served in Michelin star restaurants, parallels the painting's contrast of status.

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With two-thirds of Pompeii still unexplored, this find hints at the possibility of more fascinating discoveries awaiting archaeologists studying the preserved remnants of ancient Roman civilization.

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