Pizza? Oh man this is gonna be a LONG one..but here we gooooooooo!
History of PIZZA:
The Ancient Greeks, for example, had a flat bread called "plakuntos" which was flavoured with various toppings like herbs, onion and garlic. It is also said that soldiers of the Persian King, Darius the Great (521-486 B.C.) baked a kind of bread flat upon their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates and in the 1st century BC, Virgil refers to the ancient idea of bread as an edible plate or “trencher” for other foods in this extract from the Aeneid:
"Their homely fare dispatch’d, the hungry band
Invade their trenchers next, and soon devour,
To mend the scanty meal, their cakes of flour.
Ascanius this observ’d, and smiling said:
“See, we devour the plates on which we fed.”
These flatbreads, like pizza, are from the Mediterranean area and other examples of flat breads that survive to this day from the ancient Mediterranean world are "focaccia" which may date back as far as the Ancient Etruscans, coca (which has sweet and savory varieties) from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, the Greek "Pita" or "Pide" in Turkish . Similar flat breads in other parts of the world include the Indian "Paratha" , the Pakistani "Naan" and the German "Flammkuchen".
Bartolomeo Scappi the great Italian renaissance chef published several recipes for "pizza" in his famous cookbook Opera dell'arte del cucinare (published in 1570). However, these are quite different to modern pizza and are generally sweet dishes made with flaky pastry. He does include a recipe for a Neapolitan Pizza which consists of a pastry base topped with almonds, dried fruits and flavoured with rosewater .
Another belief is that pizza was an evolution of Chinese green onion pancake, brought back to Italy by Marco Polo.Chinese opinions on pizza's invention often run along lines like this:
Marco Polo missed green onion pancakes so much that when he was back in Italy, he tried to find chefs willing to make the pancake for him. One day, he managed to meet a chef from Naples at a friend's dinner party and persuaded him to try recreating the dish. After half a day without success, Marco Polo suggested the filling be put at the top rather than inside the dough. The change, by chance, created a dish praised by everyone at the party. The chefs returned to Naples and improvised by adding cheese and other ingredients and formed today's pizza.
The concept of the pizza has been international, bread with added ingredients. It's simplicity seems innate, so who is to say that everyone did not invent the pizza?
The Pizza is one of the most famous and beloved foods in the world I would have to say.
*Taken from Wikipedia*....*listed below*
The form of this type of dish appears in 3 formats: Pizza and Calzone and Stromboli
The name of an oven-baked, flat, usually round bread covered with tomato purée and often mozzarella CHEEEEESE!, with other toppings left optional. While originating as a part of Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many different parts of the world. A shop or restaurant where pizzas are made and sold is called a "pizzeria" (from Italian) although the phrase "pizza parlor" is also used in the United States and Canada.
However, did you know there are many more types of Pizza than just the 3 I have mentioned?
Neapolitan pizza
Lazio style
Sicilian-style
White Pizza (No Tomato Sauce style for those who are allergic to Tomatos)
Ripieno or Calzone
Now in the Good ol' USA, we have invented a few more styles.
The New York Style
The Chicago Deep Dish (MAMA MIA this baby is THICK!)
Chicago-style thin crust pizza
St. Louis style pizza
California style Pizza
Greek Pizza
Hawaiian Pizza
Grilled Pizza
English Muffin Pizza (also known as the PIZZA BAGEL or French Bread Pizza)
New Haven Style Pizza
Frozen and ready-to-bake pizzas
and finally the Desert Pizza (served in fast food pizza places)
meanwhile, in Australia..there's WAY more styles...which is a little bit unusual but BELIEVE IT OR NOT...this is what it contains..
Since the 1980s Australian pizza shops and restaurants began selling gourmet pizzas, essentially pizzas with upmarket ingredients such as salmon, dill, rocket, bocconcini, tiger prawns, and even such outre toppings as kangaroo, emu and crocodile meats. Wood-fired pizzas, cooked in an impressive-looking ceramic oven heated by wood fuel, are also popular.
Meanwhile back in Europe, There is a LAW for Pizza....that's how hardcore they are (Heck I should be a law maker of cheeses!)
This Law states and I quote...
In Italy there is a bill before Parliament to safeguard the traditional Italian pizza, specifying permissible ingredients and methods of processing (e.g., excluding frozen pizzas). Only pizzas which followed these guidelines could be called "traditional Italian pizzas", at least in Italy.
Italy has also requested that the European Union safeguard some traditional Italian pizzas, such as "Margherita" and "marinara".The European Union enacted a protected designation of origin system in the 1990s.
In Japan, Pizza is served very oddly, mostly with CORN and other veggies. They try to be like our US Styles, but they give an odd twist on it.
So remember my friends, Pizza is not a laughing matter! It's a serious and traditional way of the world!
So without further ado....my cruelty begins..... 
