http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_pizzaFor much of the 20th century, many Chinese erroneously believed that pizza was an evolution of Chinese green onion pancake, brought back to Italy by Marco Polo. [3] [4] Chinese opinions on pizza's invention often run along lines like this:
Marco Polo missed green onion pancakes so much that when he was back in Italy, he tried to find chefs willing to make the pancake for him. One day, he managed to meet a chef from Naples at a friend's dinner party and persuaded him to try recreating the dish. After half a day without success, Marco Polo suggested the filling be put at the top rather than inside the dough. The change, by chance, created a dish praised by everyone at the party. The chefs returned to Naples and improvised by adding cheese and other ingredients and formed today's pizza. [5]
The belief has since been dissipated in places like Hong Kong where people have gained awareness of the existence of focaccia, but is still extremely prevalent in some Chinese settlements such as mainland China. [6] The belief that pizza was invented in the USA is also still quite prevalent. [7]