I hate to second-guess your history lesson, as I enjoyed these pizza articles very much. We baked real pizza, frozen biscuits pizza and french-bread pizza at home since I was a little girl in the 1970's. However, my understanding is that while focaccia was a very popular street food in Naples, most Europeans into the late 19th century believed tomatoes to be poisonous. Tomatoes are a new world fruit and did not exist in classic Italian cooking. Modern pizza with the red sauce was invented here in New York City by Italian immigrants in need of a portable lunch that could be sold to immigrant workers for a couple of cents. I have heard stories of pushcarts and the back doors of restaurants with work men lined up early in the morning to purchase their lunches for later. I guess it was the equivalent of the modern Roach coach, but I would rather have the Italian food myself. I have heard that eventually tomatoes made their way back to the old country and became wildly popular there in the 20th century, along with American pizza pie (like almost everywhere). I have always liked to think of pizza as an American contribution to world cuisine.

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