Plain English
The typical pizza Margherita.
The pizza Margherita is a type of pizza that was first made in Naples in Italy. Tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and extra-virgin olive oil are used in making this pizza.
How did it get the name Margherita? There are a couple of stories about it. One story goes something like this.
There was an Italian queen called Margherita.
Queen Margherita of Savoy
The Italian queen Margherita was visiting Naples with her husband in 1889. She grew tired of the French food that would usually be served to kings and queens. She saw that the people of Naples were eating a large flatbread and wanted to eat it, too.
A flatbread is like a pizza without toppings.
Raffaele Esposito was a famous pizza maker in Naples. He was asked to make a pizza for her. He came up with the idea of making a pizza with toppings made up of basil, mozzarella and tomatoes. These three ingredients also represented the colors of the Italian flag.
The flag of Italy
The three pizza toppings in the colors of the Italian Flag:
Green basil
White mozzarella cheese
Red tomatoes
But we don’t know for sure if this story is true. Because it seems that a pizza with these toppings was already being made in Naples.
There is another story about the pizza’s name. Margherita in Italian means “daisy”, and the pizza looks like a daisy because of its toppings.