Forget DiGiorno. You Can Buy Frozen Pizzas From Naples

There is no better way to get an authentic pizza than going to the place where it all started. The large Italian city of Naples is often credited as the birthplace of pizza as we know it. Most of can't hitch a flight to Naples to enjoy a perfected pizza, but we don't have to. There's a Naples-based vendor selling frozen wood-fired pizzas in grocery stores around the United States. Who needs DiGiorno when you can explore the flavors of Italy from the comfort of your home?

Talia di Napoli frozen Neapolitan-style pizzas have been spotted in upscale grocery stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts, specialty grocers, and wholesalers. This style of pizza typically has a thin and airy crust that's charred from its cooking process, which requires it to be cooked at an extremely high temperature for a brief time, which is why it comes fully cooked — your oven probably doesn't go up to 800 or 900 degrees Fahrenheit. According to its website, Talia di Napoli channels Neapolitan authenticity by ensuring each pizza is prepared by hand with natural ingredients and cooked in a wood-fired oven before being frozen. But you can heat it in about 10 minutes using the oven or the stove.

Chicago is known for its deep-dish pizzas, though it also has tavern-style pizza. There's also the thin, greasy NYC slice, so popular it has non-New Yorkers wondering how New York pizza differs from Brooklyn-style.

However, Neapolitan-style pizza takes a more minimalistic approach to its form, which is no surprise, given its history. During the 1700s and early 1800s, Naples was home to the working poor, who desired fast and affordable meals. At the time, there was a dish commonly sold by street vendors as flatbreads with toppings like tomatoes, cheese, oil, and anchovies — whatever was accessible. It became the Neapolitan pizza, known as a basic pie with fresh ingredients and a hearty amount of a flavorful sauce. It's also usually smaller in size, only coming in 10- to 12-inch sizes. For the simple crust, pizzaiolos (pizza makers) use 00 flour (aka double-zero flour), which is an extra-finely ground Italian flour. The pizzas are also always cooked in a wood-fired oven because of its high heat, which you can mimic at home with firebricks, an unconventional tool for making restaurant-style pizza at home.

Popular flavors include Margherita, which consists of tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and olive oil, and marinara, which is a cheese-less pizza with a delicious tomato sauce, oregano, basil, and garlic. Other toppings, like mushrooms and prosciutto, are common. Talia di Napoli sells a variety of frozen pizzas for around $10 per pie, including Margherita and tartufina, which comes with mozzarella, grated black truffle, and porcini mushrooms.