The History of Pizza Cutters

The first dedicated pizza cutter of note was invented by Silvio Pacitti, who created the mezzaluna in 1708. Very little is known about him, but he most likely lived in southern Italy. Notably, many pizzerias today use a modernized version of his curved-blade tool to cleanly slice pizzas; the method is especially useful for slicing deep-dish pizzas. Despite Pacitti’s invention, the concept of serving pizza by the slice wasn’t a widespread phenomenon until the postwar era came about in the mid-1900s. At first, shops would simply cut their pizzas into slices using regular table knives. But in other industries, cutters with roller blades had already emerged. Back in 1892, David S. Morgan of Asheville, North Carolina had invented a "roller-knife for trimming wall-paper” and in 1922, Carl A. Frahm of Canton, Ohio had introduced a “cake cutter” to help bakers easily divide dough. Around the early 1950s, similar circular blades became a popular way to slice pizza. Inexpensive and easy to use, they caught on with professional pizza chefs and home cooks alike. Interestingly, the earliest rotary-blade pizza cutters were relatively small, but as portions of cheese and toppings increased over time, the size of the rotary blades increased, too. Today, rotary pizza cutters remain one of the most popular ways to slice pizzas. They are available in many sizes to suit different styles of pizza, from thin-crust to deep-dish, and are a staple in both commercial and home kitchens.