There are many unsung heroes in history: the DNA scientist Rosalind Franklin, hygiene pioneer Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, 16th-century female ninja Mochizuki Chiyome, but perhaps we should add to that list one Carmela Vitale. Okay, we’re being a little humorous here because Carmela didn’t fight any battles or help revolutionize science, but she is the person responsible for your takeaway pizza being a substantially better feast than it otherwise might have been.

PIZZA PREDICAMENT

Pizza delivery dates back further than you might expect and has its beginnings in royalty. In 1889, Queen Margherita of Italy, falling foul of rotten food in Naples, found herself in dire need of a meal of substance and quality. Her husband, King Umberto I, requested that the distinguished chef Raffaele Esposito come up with something suitable. Esposito prepared what we now know as the margherita pizza, topped it with mozzarella cheese and tomatoes, and personally delivered it to the Queen.

It wasn’t until after World War II, however, that pizza delivery in the US became standard. As demand grew, so did the need for suitable delivery methods, and in 1960, the founder of Domino’s Pizza, Tom Monaghan, came up with the now ubiquitous cardboard box. These boxes were ideal in many ways – strong and sturdy enough to protect the pizza and ideal for stacking, but there was a problem. Steam from the oven-fresh delicacies would often soak into the cardboard, causing the lid to melt inwards and connect with the melted cheese. This could easily lead to a famished customer lifting the lid and meeting a sticky disaster.

THE UNSUNG HERO

This very thing appears to have happened one too many times for Long Island native Carmela Vitale, who, in 1983, applied for a patent for her new invention – a tiny, three-pronged plastic table that could sit in the centre of a boxed pizza, thereby preventing the lid from coming into contact with hot cheese. But who exactly was Carmela Vitale? Information is scant, so much so that fellow culinary inventor Alison Grieve recently spent two years of her life seeking the elusive Carmela. Unfortunately, Grieve’s quest has so far been unsuccessful. In her own words: “Even her own patent attorneys seem to have forgotten about this unsung hero.” Grieve remains determined to find answers: “I would just love to listen to her story. I’d hope that she feels proud of her achievement. I’d like to parade her round pizza parlors and have her users thank her in person.” Maybe one day we will all be able to express our thanks to Carmela.

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