This picture provided on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, by the Pompeii Archaeological Park shows the wall of an ancient Pompeian house with a fresco depicting a table with food. The fresco was found in the atrium of a house in Insula 10 of Regio IX under excavation, to which a bakery was annexed, already partially explored between 1888 and 1891 and whose investigations were resumed last January. (Pompeii Archaeological Park via AP, ho)
A still-life fresco discovered recently in the Pompeii archaeological site looks like a pizza, but it's not, experts at the archaeological site said Tuesday.
They noted that key ingredients needed to make Italy's iconic dish — tomatoes and mozzarella — were not available when the fresco was painted some 2,000 years ago.
Tomatoes were only introduced to Europe from the Americas a few centuries ago, and some histories have it that the discovery of mozzarella led directly to the invention of pizza in nearby Naples in the 1700s.
The image is instead believed to be a focaccia covered with fruit, including pomegranate and possibly dates, finished with spices or a type of pesto, experts said. In the fresco, it is served on a silver plate and a wine chalice stands next to it.
The contrast of the frugal meal served in a luxurious setting, denoted by the silver tray, is not unlike modern-day pizza, “born as a poor-man’s dish in southern Italy, which has won over the world and is served even in starred restaurants," said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii archaeological site.
The ancient Roman city of Pompeii was destroyed in the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The sudden and deadly event left much of the structure intact, embalmed in volcanic ash, and the site is now a major archaeological project and tourist attraction.
The Coldiretti ag lobby immediately seized on the discovery of the fresco to promote pizza — invented as a quick meal for the working poor — as a national treasure. Today, pizza represents one-third of the food budget of foreign visitors and generates total annual revenues of 15 billion euros ($16.4 billion) in Italy.
The art of the Neapolitan pizzamaker was put on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list in 2017, recognized for its four phases of dough preparation and for being baked exclusively in a wood oven at 485 degrees Celsius (905 degrees Fahrenheit.)
Frankie Grande of Nickelodeon’s "Danger Force" is taking his villain act to another show on the network, "Side Hustle," for a crossover event dubbed "When Worlds Collide." The actor, dancer, singer, producer, television host, and YouTube personality joined Cheddar News to talk about putting the project together. “What I will tell you is these unbelievable actors from very, very young ages were so inspirational to work with," he said of his castmates. "They showed up, they knew their lines, they hit their marks." Grande also went into detail about his very nerdy engagement with Hale Leon in virtual reality.
Inflation is driving a return to the gig economy, according to a new survey from Branch & Marqeta that found 85 percent of workers have increased or planned to increase their amount of gig work in the past six months, with 58 percent citing inflation as the reason behind this change. Arun Sundararajan, professor at NYU Stern School of Business, breaks down this dynamic and how it's impacting the broader economy. "Inflation is rampant and people need more money. Salaried wages haven't kept up. Plus the labor market is tight. People can't find full time employees, employers can't find full time employees, and so some people are being opportunistic," he said. "And I also think there's a COVID effect because people have gotten used to more flexibility and time and space because people have gotten used to more flexibility and time and space, through the months of the lockdown."
The FDA just approved a first-of-its-kind treatment for individuals with blood cancer that has proven results of 5-year survival rates. Christi Shaw, CEO of Kite, a Gilead company, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how this treatment works and compares to others currently on the market.
Dr. Neta Lavon, CTO and VP of R&D at Aleph Farms, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how the team sent cow cells to space to further research the production of meat in space, and why developing cultivated meat is so critical to the future of space travel.
A new report from DrakeStar Partners, an investment bank that closely tracks the sector, said $98.7 billion in deals were announced or closed in the first three months of the year. T
The Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing a communications breakdown that led police to think an aircraft carrying military parachutists for a baseball stadium stunt was “a probable threat.”
