Has anybody noticed this about franchise pizza?

Maybe because real authentic pizza doesn't scale to large chains or appeal to the vast unwashed multitudes?
 
chickenfried said:
Is pizza really italian though? Or is it like egg foo young, sweet & sour pork, etc american food disguised as exotic ethnic food?
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Sweet and sour pork is Cantonese - gu lou yuk - but is popular in American cuisine. Egg foo yung has Cantonese origins as fu yung daan (hibiscus eggs) but has become a western Chinese restaurant staple. Chop suey, on the other hand, is thoroughly an American-Chinese invention.

Pizza is Italian made made possible through the New World gift of the tomato. As stated in the Wiki:

The innovation which gave us the particular flat bread we call “pizza” was the use of tomato as a topping. For some time after the tomato was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (as are some other fruits of the nightshade family) However, by the late 18th century it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread and so the pizza was born. The dish gained in popularity and Pizza became a tourist attraction as visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city to try the local specialty.

Until about 1830, pizza was often sold from open-air stands and street vendors out of pizza bakeries. The world’s first true pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba, opened in Naples in 1830 and still serves pizza from the same premises today. A description of pizza in Naples around 1830 is given by the French writer and food expert Alexandre Dumas, père in his work Le Corricolo, Chapter VIII [1]. He writes that pizza was the only food of the humble people in Naples during winter, and that "in Naples pizza is flavored with oil, lard, tallow, cheese, tomato, or anchovies".
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The first marinara pizzas used only spices, olive oil, and tomato sauce as their toppings. It wasn't untill the mid-1800s that the cheese was included on what Neopolitans call the margherita type of pizza. Pizza made its appearance in the US in the late 19th century with Italian immigrants in NYC, Philly, Chicago, and SF. Our modern pizza industry was started in Chicago in 1943 with Pizzeria Uno.




:D
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Ebbtide said:
Come to NYC for the real thing :D
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+1. I've visited NYC once, and when I tried an authentic NYC pizza, it spoiled all other pizzas for me. I've found places here and there that come very close to it, never in a chain, but nothing has ever matched the real thing. I get hungry just thinking about it.

Here in my hometown, I'm lucky that they opened a mom and pop pizza place that gets it about 90% like the real thing. Great food there, and really great prices.

Another place comes to mind, a place in Murray, KY called Matt B's. Pretty close to NYC pizza, too. But it's been years since I've been there, don't know if that place still exists.
 
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