And the use of tomato paste or sauce underneath, rather than sliced tomato on top, seems to be an even later innovation.

This was done not for the taste, but so that the pizza could be prepared in advance of being served. The idea was that the tomato paste would not go bad or seep juices into the dough base. Its is actually a regression from a culinary standpoint.

That's like saying pickles and preserves and fermented foods are a "culinary regression" because they were created to prevent fresh food from going bad.

Something can be both practical and not a "regression."

I disagree. Pizza sauce means more oppurtunity for culinary expression.

Dont get me wrong, margherita is great, but to say pizza sauce is a regression is a bit silly IMO

There's a kind of pizza that I've had at a Turkish restaurant that comes without tomatoes. Really nice.

I'd assume a common origin with the Italian variety via the Romans (ancient).

Yes! It is called "pide". Wikipedia relates it to the pita - but I would describe it closer to as pizza as well.

I find them in Turkish restaurants around here as well. They often look like this: http://loveantalya.com/turkish-pide-with-meat-filling-cheese...

Pizza-like but not pizza. I love them for what they are. But again I love any kind of pizza (Naples, Chicago, thin, thick, doughy etc.)

Many varieties of Italian pizza are "white pizza" / "pizza blanca" and have no tomatoes.

Like pesto ones too right.

As an Italian (not from Genoa though), pesto to me has always been just a pasta sauce, so I was very surprised to see it used on salads and pizzas abroad. But recently (in the last 2-3 years) I’ve seen quite a few Italian pizzerias (not the most traditional, of course) starting to use it as an alternative choice to the tomato sauce, or, sometimes, in place of the olive oil on top. Not sure if it’s a regional variation gone national or an influence from abroad... but if it’s the latter, no Italian would ever admit that :)

Pesto is very rare on pizzas in Italy, as is chicken and many of the other things that are found in the US.

(It's not bad, it's just that if you were looking for tomato-less pizza in Italy, you wouldn't find pesto.)

This is either lahmadjun or pide. They are close, but don't seem to have common origins, just independent discoveries. Same as flatbreads. And putting some topping on one is hardly a world shattering idea.

Have whatever pleases you, but for the life of me I will never understand corn on pizza.

> Well that settles it. Next time a pizza traditionalist blasts me for having pineapple on my pizza, I'll counter that he shouldn't have tomatoes on theirs.

I don't think it's a matter of tradition. It's a matter of taste.

When you say "pizza traditionalist" you seem to mean 'someone with functioning tastebuds'.

:)

Why is it always pineapple in pizza? Why not lemon for example?

I don’t understand the whole pineapple pizza lobby, it’s just not a particularly good fruit for pizza.

I'm curious but are you living somewhere far from a place with a tropical climate?

In Australia pineapple on pizza is a really common thing. The only person I've ever met who didn't like pineapple on pizza just doesn't like pineapple at all in any context. Over here it is also pretty common to have pineapple on burgers.

My Canadian born girlfriend (who mostly grew up here) has told me that when she visited Canada at 14 and was shown a mango over there she didn't recognise it as a mango because it was so small and weirdly coloured compared to the ones we get here.

I'm beginning to think the objection to pineapple on pizza comes from people not having access to halfway decent pineapple

The contrasting taste of Pineapple and Ham does work well in my opinion.

Have you tried lemon (somewhat caramelized) and ham? :P

It's a question of ingredient quality. Most Hawaiian pizza is made with canned pineapple and thick-cut deli ham. Fresh pineapple and also any other pork aside from that ham is a big, big upgrade.

Yeah, that may have something to do with Hawaii as an island location, and what can easily be preserved, shipped, and stockpiled.

Though not strictly pizza Chris Bianco has lemon, rosemary and pecorino focaccia in his cookbook https://www.bakingsteel.com/blog/lemon-and-rosemary-focaccia

I've done mango, and it's pretty good. I could see lemon being nice. Dried Fig is also great on pizza.