A restaurant in Budapest, Hungary, is offering a unique pizza inspired by ancient Rome, featuring ingredients that would have been available during that time period. The limited-edition pizza, served at Neverland Pizzeria, excludes modern ingredients like tomatoes and mozzarella.
Instead, the pizza includes epityrum, an olive paste, and garum, a fermented fish sauce commonly used in ancient Rome. The base is made from ancient grains such as einkorn and spelt, with the dough incorporating fermented spinach juice for leavening. Toppings include confit duck leg, toasted pine nuts, ricotta, and a grape reduction.
Josep Zara, the founder of Neverland Pizzeria, drew inspiration from a Pompeii fresco depicting a flatbread with spices, pomegranate seeds, and dates. Zara explained that they had to avoid ingredients originating from the Americas during their creative process.
Head chef Gergely Bárdossy highlighted the challenges of creating the pizza with a limited ingredient list, requiring extensive experimentation. The team had to innovate due to the lack of Roman-era infrastructure like a water system, crucial for pizza dough that typically contains over 80% water.
Culinary archaeologist Lisa Roberts described the pizza as resembling a small flatbread made with wheat, honey, and olive oil, garnished with ingredients like cheese pesto and fruits such as pomegranate seeds, dates, pears, and plums. She noted that to a modern observer, this pizza might appear as a contemporary chef's innovative twist on the traditional dish.
The dish, lacking tomatoes and mozzarella, offers a unique taste experience reminiscent of ancient Roman cuisine. Roberts explained that garum, a fermented condiment popular in Rome, is comparable to fish sauce or miso, prized both as an ingredient and for its medicinal properties.
While the ancient Roman-inspired pizza may not cater to mainstream tastes, Bárdossy emphasized its appeal to a specific audience seeking a distinctive culinary experience. The dish is viewed as a precursor to modern pizza, representing a long-standing tradition of offering food as a gesture of hospitality in the ancient world.
The pizza's distinct flavors, combining salty, savory, and sweet elements, find parallels in contemporary American food culture, with examples like prosciutto-wrapped melon and pineapple on pizza. Despite its niche appeal, the unique pizza stands out as a special culinary creation, inviting diners to savor a taste of ancient Rome.
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