But is it better to buy organic produce or local produce? Should we support organic producers who have taken steps to adopt more sustainable practices that reduce the use of petro-chemicals and pesticides, or should we support local farmers?It is a fair question and one with no right or wrong answer.

Organic food and other products like cotton are beneficial in that they are produced with more sustainable practices. Organic production does
not cause the pollution of our waterways from chemical runoff or the degradation of soil content from chemical burnout. Organic production does not require thousands of the worlds poorest and most vulnerable workers to work in appalling conditions, exposing themselves and their families to toxic chemical exposure and the risk of disease and premature death.

However, it s arguable that there may be less environmental benefit from organic products if we are importing organic food from say, Europe.The environmental impact of transporting the products may outweigh the benefit achieving through the organic production. It is madness that we would import organic olives oil from Italy or Spain in the belief that it is better for the environment when we have amazing organic olive groves in Australia and an enormous range of products to choose from.

There are also circumstances when non-organic food and products may be just as an environmentally-friendly choice, or even better. There are many small local producers who grow their own produce for their products and although not certified organic, farm in accordance with organic and biodynamic principles and not do use pesticides or other chemicals. They may make their own products and not use preservatives or other additives. Local farmers markets are a great way to find many amazing products that are direct from the farmer. Buying locally in this way supports these small producers, creating demand for their products which may eventually lead them to becoming certified organic. And the money you spend stays in the local community.

The ideal situation is to buy organic and local food. We are lucky enough in Australia to have so much choice and easy access to quality fresh, local and organic food.

Food for thought. Ultimately, the choice is yours to make.

At All-About-Italian-Food.com, customers discover not only how to make an Italian coffee, how to cook Italian pasta but also how to understand this culture. With information about Italian typical food as Italian cheese, salami, Italian pastry, beverages, wine, Italian pasta recipes, All-About-Italian-Food.com offers cuatomers more information about Italian food history for each kind of dishes as well as interesting recipes, tips about Italian food cooking and eating, and so on.

Get to know more about Italian culture through Italian food at All-about-italian-food.com .

The first “official” pizzeria in America is disputable, but it is generally believed to have been founded by Gennaro Lombardi in Little Italy, Manhattan. Gennaro Lombardi opened a grocery store in 1897 which later was established as the first pizzeria in America in 1905 with New York’s issuance of the mercantile license. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero, began making pizza for the store to sell that same year. The price for an entire pizza was five cents, but since many people couldn’t afford the cost of a whole pie, they could instead say how much they could pay and they were given a slice corresponding to the amount offered. In 1924, Totonno left Lombardi’s to open his own pizzeria on Coney Island called Totonno’s. While the original Lombardi’s closed its doors in 1984, it was reopened in 1994 just down the street and is run by Lombardi’s grandson.^[6]

Pizza was brought to the Trenton area of New Jersey very early as well with Joe’s Tomato Pies opening in 1910 followed soon by Papa’s Tomato Pies in 1912. In 1936, Delorenzo’s Tomato Pies was opened. While Joe’s Tomato Pies has recently closed, both Papa’s and Delorenzo’s have been run by the same families since their openings and remain among the most popular pizza’s in the area. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in New Haven, Connecticut, was another early pizzeria which opened in 1925 which is famous for its New Haven style Clam Pie. Frank Pepe’s nephew Sal Consiglio opened a competing store, Sally’s, across the street in 1938. Both establishments are still run by descendents of the original family. When Sal died, over 2000 people attended his wake, and the New York Times ran a half-page memoriam. The D’Amore family introduced pizza to Los Angeles in 1939.

Prior to the 1940s pizza consumption was limited mostly to Italian Immigrants and their descendants. The international breakthrough came after World War II. Allied troops occupying Italy, weary of their rations, were constantly on the lookout for good food. They discovered the pizzeria, and local bakers were hard pressed to satisfy the demand from the soldiers. The American troops involved in the Italian campaign took their appreciation for the dish back home, touted by “veterans ranging from the lowliest private to Dwight D. Eisenhower”.

According to an article in American Heritage, the modern pizza industry was born in the Midwestern United States. Ric Riccardo pioneered what became known as the deep dish pizza when, in 1943, he and Ike Sewell opened Pizzeria Uno in Chicago, and a generation later, Tom Monaghan launched what soon became known as Domino’s Pizza and introduced home delivery.

In 1948, the first commercial pizza-pie mix — ‘Roman Pizza Mix‘ — was produced in Worcester, Mass., by Frank A. Fiorillo.

With its rising popularity, chain restaurants moved in. Leading early pizza chains were Shakey’s Pizza, founded in 1954 in Sacramento, California, and Pizza Hut, founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas. Later entrant restaurant chains to the dine-in pizza market were Bertucci’s, Happy Joe’s, California Pizza Kitchen, Godfather’s Pizza, and Round Table Pizza.

Today, the American pizza business is dominated by companies that specialize in pizza delivery. Besides Domino’s, this includes Little Caesar’s, Papa John’s Pizza, Giordano’s Pizza, Pizza Ranch, Mazzio’s and Godfather’s Pizza. Pizza Hut has also shifted its emphasis away from pizza parlors and toward home delivery. Another recent development is the take and bake pizzeria, such as Papa Murphy’s, at which raw pizzas are made from fresh ingredients and taken home to be baked in the customers’ own ovens.

Similarly, while some dishes considered typically American may have their origins in other countries, American cooks and chefs have substantially altered them over the years, to the degree that the dish as now enjoyed the world over may even be considered archetypically American. Hot dogs and hamburgers are both based on traditional German dishes, brought over to America by German immigrants to the United States, but in their modern, popular form they are so altered that they can be reasonably considered American dishes.

Given the United States’ large size it is not surprising that its cuisine is typified by distinct regional variations. The cuisine of the East Coast and Pacific Northwest, for example, makes use of fish and seafood to much greater degree than that of the Midwest, where corn and beef were long more readily available. To some degree, easy transportation of perishable foodstuffs has diminished these regional differences in recent years, but many Americans still associate certain foods with specific places, such as steak with Omaha; lobster with Maine; salmon with the Pacific Northwest; and crab and crabcake with Maryland.

American cooking has been widely exported beyond its borders. Tex-Mex, Creole, and barbecue restaurants can be found in cities all around the world, while fast-food burger bars and pizzerias are even more popular