If you’ve never tasted pizza then chances are you were abducted by aliens and grew up on their planet, a clan of gorillas raised you a la Tarzan or you just woke up from a very long coma. At the very least you’ve never been to Europe or the US. If, however, you’re like most people you can’t imagine a world without pizza. Traditional, deep dish, thin crust, Sicilian or New York-style everyone has a favourite. Made from scratch in one’s own kitchen, ordered at a simple pizzeria, eaten at a fancy restaurant or delivered to your home, this seemingly simple concoction of dough, sauce and toppings has a special place in most people’s culinary hearts.

Although nobody can say for sure, it’s commonly believed that the word pizza was derived from a Latin word picea, which was used to describe the process of browning bread while baking it. Another theory claims that the ancient Italian word pizziare which means the action of plucking or pinching something, perhaps the dough or the pizza itself. Regardless of its origin, this simple word has been adopted by hundreds of languages across the globe.

Herodotus wrote about a type of flat bread seasoned with oil and herbs that was eaten by his Greek contemporaries and even the Egyptians ate something similar on festive occasions, but the pizza we know and love today didn’t appear on the scene until much later.

One of the key ingredients of a modern pizza, the tomato, was only brought to Europe from central and South America in the early 16th century. At this time, however, the curious fruit was only considered a pretty novelty unfit for human consumption. Fortunately, the destitute and downtrodden of Naples who didn’t have much to lose in the first place ignored rumours that tomatoes were poisonous and chose to fill their bellies instead, opening the door to culinary innovation. Local bakers eventually known as pizzaioli began adding tomatoes to their flat breads and the pizza was born, or almost.

Word of this delicious peasant’s bread spread and soon even wealthy visitors to Naples would go ‘slumming’ and venture into the city’s poorer areas to taste this new food. The most famous visitors to Naples were King Umberto I and Queen Margheritta taking a tour of their kingdom in 1889. An aficionado of all cuisine, the queen ordered her guards to bring her this curious dish and fell in love with it so much that she was actually spotted eating it in public, which was quite a scandal in her day. The queen however refused to relent and one day sent for pizza maker Rafaelle Esposito who baked a selection of pizzas for her. To illustrate his patriotism Esposito made one with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil (Italy’s national colours - red, white and green) an act that was not lost on the queen. She proclaimed this pizza her favourite and to this day it is called pizza Margheritta. An official thank-you letter from the king’s caterer is still proudly displayed on the wall of the pizzeria where Esposito worked – Pizzeria Brandi in Naples.

Pizza’s popularity grew with the royal seal of approval but it took a world war to bring it to the rest of the world.

Italian immigrants brought pizza across the pond in the 19th century, but it remained an ethnic secret that few Americans ever enjoyed until GIs returning from service in Italy after WWII extolled its delicious properties to friends and family. Not unlike the grilled kebabs of the Middle East that are now ubiquitous in any decent-sized European city, pizza became a staple of the American diet with new variations being added now and again. In Chicago the deep dish or pan pizza was invented in the late forties, Californians created white pizzas, Pizza Hut stuffed the crusts of their pizzas with cheese and today most anything can be used as a topping from cactus meat to bananas and curry. Currently the average American eats over 10 kilos of pizza each year and 350 slices of the endeared dish are consumed every second. In spatial terms, Americans devour 40 hectares of pizza each day.

In the Czech capital pizzerias are as ubiquitous as cheap beer. Local joints have sprung up around town and offer a nice alternative to globalisation. Still, if truth be told, the small mom and pop shops that go it alone are often the best destinations for delicious pizza. Most restaurants serve European-style thin crust pizzas, and although we agree with the old adage ‘to each his own,’ we’d still kill for an authentic New York slice. See 'Where to eat' for reviews of our favourites around town.