From being a simple flat bread eaten by Persians, Romans, and Greeks, the pizza has evolved during its long journey to every corner of the world.

Oven baked, grilled, thin crust, pie crust, deep dish, square or round are the variations one finds as far as the pizza base is concerned. But when one considers the toppings they can be best described as a poet’s muse—expressions of the soul and tastes of vibrant people the world over.

History records how in 1889, Rafaelle Esposito made for Queen Margherita of Italy a pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil –popular today as pizza Margherita.

Among the Italian pizza varieties are: pizza marinara, which is a traditional Neapolitan pizza that has garlic, oregano, and anchovies. Napoli has tomato, mozzarella, and anchovies, while Capricciosa has mushrooms, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, olives, and a boiled egg.

Very popular is the New York-style pizza, which has a thin crust on which is layered sauce, grated cheese, and pepperoni. The dough is hand-tossed so that the pie is large and thin. There is a white pizza variation where only cheese is used, leaving out the tomato sauce. Popularly used cheeses are ricotta and mozzarella.

Equally renowned is the Chicago pizza, which is made in a deep dish with cheese being the first layer followed by sauce. There is an interesting variation of a double crust with sauce placed in between, termed as the “stuffed” pizza.

That pizza accepted change is seen from the Hawaiian pizza, which boasts chunky pineapple, and the St Louis variation, which has a sweet tangy sauce and is heavily seasoned with spices.

Mexican pizza has a topping of either chili or taco filling with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onions, tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers.

Each recipe becomes unique because of its sauce, the way it is made, and the kind of cheese used, whether the pie is baked in a traditional wood oven or modern oven, and the combinations used in the toppings. Generally a pizza would have one or more herbs, like chili flakes, basil, oregano, or garlic; diced vegetables like asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers, olives, tomatoes, and onions; meat, seafood, fish, pepperoni sausage, salami, ham, bacon, ground beef, chicken, egg, anchovies or shrimp, kebab, coconut, Moroccan lamb, chicken tikka masala, Thai curry, kimchi or bulgogi.

Pizzas offer tastes of nations in the true sense---in America the flavors are uniquely American while in India or Korea or Japan the pizza incorporates local flavors. In doing so, the pizza has truly become universal.