The History of Pizza and the History of John: Pizzamas Day 4
2014-11-13 · explainer · John · 3:12 · watch on YouTube
Topic: History & curiosities · mode: Explainer · tags: calendar ritual, community lore
Replying to Hank's history of Pizza John, John defines pizza as bread, tomato sauce and cheese, says the Columbian exchange made it possible and that it had millions of innovators rather than an inventor, so history is collaboration rather than great individuals; he then traces the name John and why Jonathan is a different name.
What is said
The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).
00:00:00 — Greeting from the car; the moon and a 'star' Hank will probably say is a planet
- ★ John, vlogging from the car in the morning, says he still sees the moon and a star that Hank will probably tell him tomorrow is actually a planet. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:02
00:00:13 — History of pizza: definition, the Columbian exchange, tomatoes, Naples, millions of innovators; history as collaboration
- ★★ John enjoyed Hank's history of the Pizza John design, which made him wonder about the history of pizza and the history of Johns. — 00:00:13 · Pizza John, John (name)
-
★★ John rejects tracing pizza to ancient Egypt, India and Greece as just bread with toppings (garlic naan and banana bread are not pizza); pizza is bread, tomato sauce and cheese. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:30
“Pizza is bread and tomato sauce and cheese and possibly other.”
-
★★★ John: for almost all of human history pizza was impossible, because tomatoes existed only in the Americas and cow's milk and bread only in the rest of the world. — 00:00:47
- ★★★ John: the exchange between the Americas and the rest of the world that began with Columbus in the late 15th century was disastrous for life on Earth in many ways, but made pizza and about 90% of today's foods possible. — 00:01:10
- a number in question (doubtful): "90%" — check against the recording
- ★★ John: there were no cows in the New World and no potatoes in the Old World, so hamburgers and french fries both depended on the exchange. — 00:01:23
- ★★ John: tomatoes were among the New World foods that came to the Old World, and were initially believed to be poisonous. — 00:01:36
- ★★ John: by the middle of the 16th century in Naples, Italy, there was pizza as we know it, with cheese, tomato sauce and bread. — 00:01:44
- check: middle of the sixteenth century — doubtful
- ★★ John: like most things, pizza had no inventor but millions of innovators; its story is humans coming together over thousands of generations and across continents to invent the perfect food. — 00:01:52
- ★★ John: 16th-century Naples pizza tasted very little like today's; it was sweet, and 'pizza' literally means pie. — 00:01:56
- ★★★ John: history is not really about great individuals but an ongoing collaboration among everyone who has lived. — 00:02:11
- ★ John: about 96 billion people have lived on Earth. — 00:02:15
00:02:21 — History of the name John: Hebrew meaning, popularity in England, Johns in the Bible, John vs Jonathan
- ★★ John: John comes from a Hebrew name meaning 'God is gracious' and was the most popular name in England for about a thousand years, until it declined around the time he was born. (playful) — 00:02:22 · John (name), England
- ★★ John: there are a few minor Johns in the Hebrew Bible, but Johns took off in the New Testament, e.g. John the Baptist and Jesus's apostle John. — 00:02:32 · John (name)
- ★ John: historians disagree about whether there are other Johns in the Bible, an argument he steers clear of. (playful) — 00:02:46 · John (name)
- ★★★ John: the name John is not the same as Jonathan, which comes from a different Hebrew word meaning 'gift from God' and is a longer form of Nathan, not of John. — 00:02:52 · John (name), Jonathan (name)
00:03:05 — Sign-off: lunchtime, guess what John is having
Humor (significant)
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Defining pizza, John lists modern variants: cheeseless pizza, sauceless pizza, and then the internet meme order. — 00:00:23
“and none pizza with left beef”
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Before the Columbian exchange, imagine ordering a hamburger and french fries at a restaurant. — 00:01:28
“but if you want the hamburger ,you're gonna have to leave the Americas”
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Tracing Johns to the New Testament, John needles his brother. — 00:02:37
“I don't want to brag, Hank, but there are no Hanks in the New Testament”
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After a history of pizza and Johns on Pizzamas, John notes it is lunchtime. — 00:03:08
“You'll never guess what I'm having.”
Threads in this video
- restate · Do people achieve more together than as individuals? — John: history is not about great individuals but an ongoing collaboration among the roughly 96 billion people who have lived; pizza had millions of innovators, no inventor. (00:02:11)
Mentioned
Central: Columbian exchange · John (name) · pizza
Also: People: Christopher Columbus
Works: Bible · Hebrew Bible · New Testament
Terms: Jonathan (name) · Pizza John
Concepts: cumulative culture · great man theory · tomato
Places: Americas · Ancient Egypt · Ancient Greece · England · India · Naples
Myths: Jesus · John the Apostle · John the Baptist
Memes: None pizza with left beef
Only in the description or credits: Pizzamas · Rosianna Halse Rojas
Also centred on John (name): A Surprise Relationship Between John and Hank!
Also centred on pizza: Where are Whale Balls? Question Tuesday: Pizza Edition
Replies to
- continues · The History of Pizza John! — “So Hank, I really enjoyed your history of the Pizza John design, but it made me wonder about the history of pizza”
Later videos replying to this one
- 2014-11-14 · A Surprise Relationship Between John and Hank! (Hank) — corrects continues — “The star that you saw in your last video was in fact not a star, it was Jupiter.” (00:00:01)