Types of Pizza - Popular Pizza Variations

As one of the most popular dishes in the world, pizza managed to be produced in astounding amount of variations depending of the area or the country where it is used. The first major breakthrough that enabled pizza to become the dish that we know and love today was tomato, which empowered cooks from Italian town of Napoli to create first modern pizza. After several centuries under their care, pizza finally managed to cross to America where it slowly became one of the most popular meals. Shortly after that, worldwide success came and pizza became common dish in every country in the world. Although this popularity brought with itself many variation in creation of pizza, Italian government and cooks from Napoli managed to elect the law that preserves the image and process of creation of the true Naples' Neapolitan pizza.

Here are some of the most important types of pizza that can be found around of world:

Italian Neapolitan pizza (pizza napoletana) - This authentic Neapolitan pizza is protected by the European law as a cultural food heritage, and its production is closely monitored. Ingredients for its creation are San Marzano tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese (sometimes made from the milk from water buffalo raised in the marshlands of Campania and Lazio in a semi-wild state), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast and strong flour with high protein content.
Italian Lazio style - This style originated from Rome and is popular across the entire Italy. It is created either in rectangular baking pan with thin crust, or in regular oval form. There are several variations of this pizza, with most notable ones being Pizza Romana (tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, oregano, oil), Pizza Viennese (German sausage), Pizza capricciosa, Pizza quattrostagioni ("four seasons pizza), Pizza quattroformaggi("four cheese pizza"), Sicilian-style pizza (its topping is baked directly into the crust), White pizza (which doesn't not use tomato sauce), Ripieno or calzone (which is "turnaround pizza, folded into form of half circle) and Pizza Leggera or Pizza Mezzogiorno (very small pizza, with crust of only half a centimeter at most).

American pizza - Over the last century in which pizza was present in the US, several distinctive pizza styles were developed. Some of the most notable ones are deep-dish pizza in Chicago, twice-baked style in Detroit and thin crust pizza in New York.
Australian pizza - This kind of pizza is heavily filled with cheese and eggs, as well as many other sea products. In 1980s several Australian pizza shops started selling pizzas that were made with very exotic and expensive ingredients (salmon, bocconcini, tiger prawns, kangaroo, emu and crocodile).
Brazilian pizza - After the pizza revolution in 1950s, this dish became very popular in Brazil. Today it's calculated that population of Sao Paolo eat 1.4 million pizzas every day. Aside from very popular traditional types (Neapolitan pizza and Roman pizzas), Brazilian pizzerias also offer many forms of this dish.
Indian pizza - India became acquitted with pizza with the arrival of the big pizza franchise restaurants (such as Domino's and Pizza Hut) during 1990s. Today Indian population eat all the most common pizza variations (mostly Italian ones), but they created several toppings that are unique to their country (Tandoori Chicken and Paneer).
Pizza in Korea - In addition to the major American pizza brands, population of South Korea is also eating pizzas from the domestic brands such as Mr. Pizza and Pizza Etang, which offer traditional and regional toppings that cannot be found elsewhere and pizzas that are very complicated for creation. North Korea received his first pizzeria in its capitol Pyongyang in 2009.

Pizzas in Israel - Types of pizza in Israel are heavily influenced by many cultures that live in that area. In addition to worldwide pizza chains, Israel pizzas are also available in kosher (no meat or with meat imitations).
Frozen pizzas - The first frozen pizzas appeared in US market by Celentano Brothers. In the following decades food technologists managed to overcome challenges with cold pizza storages. Today they are available in forms of frozen crust, or as ready-to-bake pizzas which have pre-prepared raw ingredients.
Exotic pizzas - Some of the examples of the most notable exotic pizzas are Deep-Fried Pizza from Scotland (often served with French fries for maximum calories impact), Chocolate Pizza (with toppings such as marshmallows, peanut butter, and candy) and Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza (Domino's version of this pizza can have 900 calories in regular 2 slice serving!).

Some types of pizzas (pictures):

Roasted Tomato Pizza, Salami Pizza, Italian Pizza, Italian Pizza with Hum, Sweet Pizza with Strawberry, Square Pizza, Square Small Pizza, Portuguese Pizza ...