One of the best parts of following The New York Times's Twitter feed is the gems the publication shares from its vast archive; most recently, we've learned that the newspaper discovered pizza [1] in 1944. The original article [2] perfectly articulates every detail of the pizza pie, from its unique, flat, and round shape to the special to-go box it's sent home inside. It's hard to believe there was a time Americans lived without pizza delivery, as 71 years later, the Italian dish is a staple in most American households. The entire article is an amusing read, but these quotes, oh so endearing with age, made us chuckle:

• There was no word for toppings yet: Pizza is "a pie made from a yeast dough and filled with any number of different centers, each one containing tomatoes. Cheese, mushrooms, anchovies, capers, onions and so on may be used."
• The pizza box is 70-plus years old: The pizze "may be ordered to take home. They are packed, piping hot, in special boxes for that purpose."
• Cheese was the most popular flavor: "[P]izza with mozzarella proved most in demand."
• The NYT had to define mozzarella cheese: "Italian goats' milk cheese"
• Original pizzas were assembled backward: "Good sized pieces of mozzarella . . . are placed on the dough and over that is poured fresh tomato sauce. Then the top is sprinkled with grated cheese and covered with olive oil."
• How pizza is different than pie: "The pie is slid off the board into the huge oven, without benefit of pie tin."
• Pizza is an intriguing fast food: "[T]he oven is kept at an extraordinarily high temperature . . . [T]he whole operation having taken not more than ten or twelve minutes."
• Crust is a miraculous feat: "Although pie tins do not figure in the procedure, the finished product has a full, rounded edge, which we were told, by thinning out the center of the uncooked dough to a greater degree than the outsides."
• Tripe was considered an appropriate side dish to the pizza: "The pizze are usually served with wine or beer and may be accompanied by a green salad, or, as is often the case at Luigino's, by an order of tripe."
• People have always gorged on pizza: "Each one will make four portions, although many people can do away with a whole pie single-handed."