People who discuss the pizza effect are well aware that it started in Italy. The interesting “effect” part is that the version that is popular now in Italy was heavily influenced by the development of pizza in, largely, New York, by Italian immigrants. It was re-imported back into Italy. It’s a cautionary tale for people who fret about cultural appropriation and a reminder that the idea of the “original” or “authentic“ version of something is often more complicated than we imagine.
One of the most popular if not the most popular versions of pizzas in Italy is the pizza margherita (and in fact a lot of pizzas are just margheritas with additional toppings).
Pizza margherita existed in the I̶X̶X̶ XIX century already in its modern form.
Thought so, but wasn’t sure. I was fond of the pizza effect story, and am holding on to the hope that it’s at least partly true. But you supply a powerful counter-fact.
