Which specific group in Naples drove the adoption of the tomato into their staple flatbreads?
Answer
The impoverished commoners (lazzaroni)
The transformation into modern pizza was driven from the bottom up, rooted in necessity within the working-class environment of Naples. The *lazzaroni*, or the city's working poor, required food that was cheap, readily available, and high in calories to sustain strenuous labor. It was these impoverished commoners, often eating their food quickly on the street, who first began incorporating the newly introduced tomato into their staple flatbreads during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This necessity-driven innovation contrasts sharply with the high gastronomy often associated with other European culinary shifts, cementing pizza's roots in necessity and affordability.
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