pizza: Pizza evokes Americana like baseball and fireworks on the 4th of July. I'd like to dialogue on what pizza means to everyone. I'm producing some mixed media fiberglass art pieces dealing with Pizza for a local gallery exhibit and I'm hoping comments will give me that artistic insight that I need to excel. Here's you chance to be a muse.|||I think pizza has evolved to the point of being a symbol of americana. Sure it has its origins in a different country, but our country has many cultural origins from elsewhere. Also, look what people in america are doing with pizza that is uniquely american, most noteably deep dish pizza. Honestly hot dogs arent technically american either, they're from Frankfurt, Germany, thus the name frankfurters. Its the local sausage in that area. Still it also has evolved to be american with the way we treat them. Apple pie also has its origins elsewhere, France, Germany, and Italy all have a version of apple pie, nonetheless that doesnt make it not american. On a side note, in response to the first answerer, the Italians didnt invent pasta, the chinese did, marco polo brought it back with him.|||OMG I cannot believe you seriously think that Pizza is American... Surely you have heard of a little European country which had also invented Pasta, Versace and Ferrari?|||I thought pizza originated in Italy.|||I heard pizza was invented in China, so maybe it should be called Chinese food.....|||I like mine with pineapple and ham|||hot dogs and apple pie just had a better PR person..........|||pizza comes from Italy though|||pizza is ITALIAN not American! it's like saying chicken vindaloo is a classic English dish just cause it's eaten alot doesn't make it a classic to that area|||I don't think it does deserve that status, since it's such a recent addition to our culture. It's only come over in the past 50 or 60 years, you know. Maybe in another 100-200 years, it will have earned the place you think it has, but it hasn't yet.|||Pizza is not american. It is italtian . So we cant take the fod and call it american if we didn't invent it that will be stealnig an idea it's italtian.|||Pizza is Italian, hot dogs are German, apple pie is from anywhere. None of those things are real "American".|||Let's see... Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. Baseball deep dish pizza pie and Chevrolet..YEP! It works!|||I think pizza and ice cream deserve that title. after all, I think their the most eaten food in America. -girlz4God|||I have to agree with you. I probably eat pizza several times/month, but a hot dog? Maybe one or two in the summer off of a grill. And apple pie? Hardly ever:) I actually think the hamburger passed the hot dog long ago, and now pizza is surpassing them both. But maybe the key word here is "classic"?|||here, we have a LOT of American dishes that deserve that title. hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, pizza, fried chicken, ribs, tacos, pasta, etc...we just have a variety of delicious food that we enjoy here, although the dish may come from another country.|||Why are so hung up on pizza? It's like you want to marry a pizza and have mini pizza's. 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Heck, I'm an adult and I love pizza. Here's an interesting fact that you might like. When Pizza Hut founders had to come up with a name, it all came down to how many letters they could afford to put on the sign. I think the wife came up with it too. It wasn't always delivered either. I think Domino's was the first to deliver. Revolutionized the business.|||Thin Crust pizza with onions and mushrooms,light on the cheese,heavy on the sauce would get my vote !!!!!!|||I think of America and I think of burgers and hotdogs and popcorn, I think of pizza and I think of Italy. That is just my perception as in the UK pizza is marketed as being 'authentic' by having Italian's on the commercials. One slogan promises 'a taste of Italy' I think is one and Pizza Hut serve the 'Sicillian' pizza. I think it is very hard to define a classic American food as America is a melting pot of different cultures. I must admit I find it a little bit strange the whole 'American as apple pie' concept aka defining a nation through food as I'm pretty sure that the first apple pie wasn't made in America. Apple pie was being eaten in England during the middle ages. Is it a hangover from when the government were trying different things to establish a cultural identity? Isn't it weird to have 'American as apple pie' when it is an oxymoron? Okay I'm sorry I do not mean to sound critical, my point being that the idea of apple pie is VERY interesting as a talking point but if you just want a food to sum up America I would go for either hotdog or Burger. Choosing a Native American dish as the classic American food, I think, would be very interesting.|||The first pizza was created in New Haven, Ct. NOT Italy. Although you can now get pizza in almost any country in the world, America (I think) consumes the most of it. America consumes the most of everything actually. As for the art piece, maybe incorporate the ideas of customizable food and convenience. Pizza are easy to make, please everybody, and feed large groups of people with varying tastes. You picked a good AMERICAN food.|||pizza is a italian dish . americans dont rule the world and they do not have the right to make a italian dish "american".it does not matter where pizza is famous but what matter is its original flavours which only the italians can recreate not u americans|||Pizza is an American invention. The Italians and Chinese and other folk have flat breads, and even heat them with ingredients on them or bake them; but the idea of a pizza is a LARGE open pie, with tomato sauce all over it, or cheese covering it and other things piled on top of that. That's American. Look at its rivals, by comparison. The hot dog is a German wiener emasculated into a thin ersatz imitation of a real sausage. The word means "Vienna". Hamburger is a German word, meaning a dish from Hamburg. A cheap fried meat patty competing with a pizza? Un-American. Apple pie is German also. Fried chicken is Southern. By way of Vienna and France only sometimes with herbs thrown in instead of milks, eggs and breadcrumbs. Pizza is the most American dish of all--the most versatile and the best. Right on! My favorite is to open a can of smoked salmon, used provolone, ricotta and Monterrey jack, and add scallions rounds, yellow pepper, bland white mushrooms, then when it comes out some Italian parsley, a little basil and diced green sweeter olives. Yum.