Talk:Pita

One name for every pastry

It maybe is a little complicate for normal Americans but I hoped Wikipedia people had done a little research. Pita is a name for almost every flatbread that exist in the word.Pita is a general word in most countries (like soup in English).

The word pita is older that most people think in the Plutus by Aristophanes in 3rd cent. B.C. is used for the bread as a side dish but also as bread filled with jam before baked(almost a pie).Most people I asked in my life tell me the word is older than that, but everyone agrees that the name was spread in middle east and most of the wold by Great Alexander's Conquest. There are some documents for this. In Greece the word itself it still used for any type of pie but the flatbread we warp our kebabs or (pork)gyros to make souvlaki is called "Eλληνική Πίτα" (Greek pita) because kebab is actually arabic word and recipy but that type of flatbread is called Elliniki pita overthere in Arabia.

• Arabic pita is the original one with the pocket usually filled with falafel of beef gyros.
• The pita in the picture on a conveyor belt is Islaely type.
• The Greek pita is the one which is the one that has a soft, chewy texture and is pocketless.
• Also khubz is also called Irakish pita in arabia and Irak.
• Pita chips, oh come on people, it is just tortilla chips with wheat flower insead of corn.

--Yes we all use the name of our countries to distinguish what type of pita we are talking about but each of us when we say pita is always the type of pastry we make most in our houses.Yes peple still use flour a lot

• Also pita not the same with peeta (not to be confused with Peeta ) but relative its Norwegian pita, soft and chewy, like the Greek one. that's all plz correct any field that is needed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.131.148.77 (talk) 21:23, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Oh my god you people there is no reference about where I have read that the word pita is used on that play, oh wait, a minute it's actually written in the play does that counts as reference? Plutus is public domain by the way. the rest is real life experiences no reference I didn't kept a diary when I was 3. What pita and pita-bread bread is common knowledge here in Greece, my mother, my father my two brothers and me (3 boys) make pitas. thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.131.148.77 (talk) 22:34, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Article split

Any chance we can split these 3 categories into seperate articles. Anyone know the best way to do this? Pita as in the bread has the most links coming here, maybe the other two could be redirected? --Greg Godwin 07:17, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Why does this page have a cleanup block? Does it refer to the comment above? If yes, that's solved now that there's the pita disambiguation page, right? 217.187.205.101 21:46, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Names

The word "pita" is used in Romanian language for bread, of any type and is a derivation of the Latin word "panem" (bread). During the centuries, many populations adopted this manner of baking the cereals, all over the Roman Empire. Later, in the 7th century, the Middle Eastern populations, including the Arab newcomers, learned to bake the "pita". It is interesting that the ancestral original Roman / Romanian word is preserved for this kind of food, over a large area of the World. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.196.150.157 (talk) 17:39, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

The article claims that pita is called "Arabic bread," "Syrian bread," etc. in Middle Eastern countries. Does this strike anyone else as unlikely? Americans don't call pullman loaves "American bread," do we? (We do have something called "American cheese," but that's because nobody else eats it.) As for Israel, they call it pita, nothing more. Flourdustedhazzn 16:01, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Taken from Talk:Shawarma (where you should throw in your opinion):

In both Syria and Lebanon, two types of bread are available for shawarma (and for falafel). One is called, in Syria anyway, khubz siyahi (tourist bread), and is essentially pita, though the individual breads are at least 20cm in diameter while a lot of pitas I have seen in other countries are much smaller. The other is called khubz 3arabi (Arab bread) in both countries, and is much thinner, composed of one layer rather than the two of pita/siyahi bread, and slightly bubbly and stretchy in texture. quoted from User:Palmiro

khubz 3arabi appears to be synonomous with Israeli lafa.--199.67.138.84 14:44, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

In Israel, k'yadua, there is pita druzit....with the labneh and olive oil...mmm. I think Americans don't call it "American bread" because they might not be aware that other countries indeed have bread or, given bread, would prefer anything else. --Mgreenbe 17:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the first part. In Israel, there are varieties of pita and the variation also dictates the usage. yonkeltron 11:38, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Here in the U.S. we, Yemeni Americans, call it "khubz Arabi" "Arabic bread". Also, the brand we buy often from an American store sells this flatbread under the name Arabic bread. I asked my mother what did she call pita in Yemen when she was still living there, and she said Yemenis called it "khubz 3ish"! How many Arabic names are there, really? Also, I personally never heard the term kmaj, and I'm tempted to add khubz 3ish to the article as one of the Arabic terms but I wont as it is best not to overcrowd the introduction. --Inahet 18:04, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

On the names, and the picture. That picture is not what, in Lebanon or Israel, I knew as xubz or pita. That item was made in ovens, and my early morning exodus was to the local oven to get today's xubz and hummus. The bread baked on an inverted wok-type implement was without pocket, crustier, and those blackened places - called [apologies for any spelling, I do not know Arabic] ma'ook or some such variant. --Dumarest 11:12, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

I grew up in a Lebanese American family, and we always called it 'Syrian Bread'. I never even heard the word pita until I was an adult. Anonymous Coward, 8/1/07

Yes its true we all use the name of our countries to distinguish what type of pita we are talking about.(like texas sandwich is not the same as California sandwich or NY.. both in cotext and way o treating the bread) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.131.148.77 (talk) 21:29, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

I find it weird that this arabic bread does not have an arabic page. anyhow, the name in palestinian arabic is "Kmaj", as you can judge by the pictures popping if you google "كماج"

Abbreviations

PITA also can be an English abbreviation for 'Pain In The Ass.' It is slang and is usually found in internet chat between friends. PITA is also the acronym for "Pipeline Integrity Technology Associates"

Note: This is only valid to English speaking people; The word "pita" in many other languages means bread or flatbread. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fillosaurus (talk • contribs) 00:51, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Kmaj

Kmaj redirects here, yet the name is not mentioned in the article. --Dweller 14:14, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Lebanese bread

Lebanese bread redirects to PITA when in reality they are two different things. Any volunteers willing to split the two? --A_Gooner 15:25, 25 October 2009

Sandwichness

FWIW, there was once (early 1970s) an establishment in Van Nuys, California whose primary offering was the 'Taco Italiano'; essentially Italian sub sandwich ingredients in a pita. This was shortly before the pita became widely available. LorenzoB 00:44, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Is this section really relevant, though? I mean, online bickering is hardly noteworthy, and making note of online bickering over whether a pita constitutes a sandwich is just plain laughable. Also, is "sandwichness" even a word? 69.92.157.226 14:15, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Broken wikicode

Section 'eating habits' has some broken wikicode and associated text that I was unable to discern how it was intended to be read and linked. Can anyone figure it out and fix it? First case seems to be a broken link to 'greens (vegetable)' , but it gets unreadable at that point for me. --M.A. 21:08, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Pictures

Just wondering whether there should be more pictures, for the younger generations, you know, that don't know what pita bread looks like.Orangesandlemons 19:05, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

That leading picture is NOT what is usually understood by pita - it is what in Lebanon I know a ma'ouk [spelling a guess] - plain flatbread, no pocket. Pita, with pocket, is not made in the way that picture shows. --Dumarest 20:45, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Pita understanding

The current article indicates that pita is not known by many of the current inhabitants of this world, and more pictures are needed. Somehow I doubt this, it is ubiquitous all over U.S. and that question is irrelevant - although a more relevant picture may be needed I will correct or fix in some sense if no objection. --Dumarest 21:18, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

It's also in Slovenia

its a sort of dessert over here.. very popular, i think its a kind of pita/pie type thing (probably not the traditional Arabic thing) most likely brought up here by the Turks in the middle ages Tyriel 19:08, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Etymology

I split the etymology section, retaining all of the content. Much of that section seemed to be arguing about the origin of the bread, rather than the etymology of the word 'pita'; the etymology part had some sources, the origin of bread pieces have none, which is a recipe for an edit war. Splitting might give the sourced part some stability. Hopefully someone can help with the rest? --Bazzargh (talk) 00:31, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Too many categories

In line with the following quoted from WP:Categorization and also with action taken over at Hummus, I have taken the axe to he very long list of categories.

"An article will often be in several categories. Restraint should be used as categories become less effective the more there are on any given article. Use the {{Too many categories}} tag if you feel the article is in too many categories."

--Peter cohen (talk) 19:13, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

Peru?

The Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, unabridged says that it is of Peruvian origin, this word "pita," and that it dates back to 1608, and that it's a Spanish word. I think that's what it says. It's kind of hard to read in my edition without getting out the magnifying glass and I already put the book up and don't feel like getting it out again.

'pitta'? http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS291&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=define:+pita

I don't know where they get Middle Eastern, or "Arab," or even Greek, actually.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.122.119.33 (talk) 05:19, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Pita bread recipe

I see that the reference re a pita bread recipe is back in the edit war stage - put it in - take it out. Will peace ever come? --Dumarest (talk) 12:17, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Etymology

Pide is a Turkish word from central Asia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.179.74.34 (talk) 17:28, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Pizza?

Why is the picture, and link section on the right all about pizza? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.137.203.204 (talk) 03:57, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

See my comment below. Acalamari 15:27, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Removal of pizza information box

I have removed the box of links related to pizza. I don't think it belongs on this page.Jimjamjak (talk) 12:37, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

I only added it because Template:Pizza linked to this article, so I assumed it would be convenient to add it. If the template doesn't belong here, why is the article linked on the template? Acalamari 15:27, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

That question really belongs on the talk page for the template, not here. Looking at the template, it basically has a See also section, which makes enough sense for the template, I suppose, given that pita and pizza are like distant cousins. But I don’t think that everything listed on a template needs to have that template on its page. If you’re looking at all aspects of pizza, it makes sense to include the related dishes, but it doesn’t follow that if you’re looking at one of the related dishes, you’d want to include all aspects of pizza. -- Irn (talk) 02:01, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

This was my thinking in removing it. I would add that just because pita is a kind of bread, it would not follow that we want a template for bread on the page.Jimjamjak (talk) 10:02, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Pita - Pitta

Back to a name war? The reference to 'pita' as the name of this bread with 'pitta' as an alternate has just now been changed to 'pitta' with 'pita' as an alternate. At least the name of the article could not be changed, and if the article is in fact 'Pita' then the 'pitta' should revert to being alternate. --Dumarest (talk) 15:19, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

And the war continues - can some conclusion be reached on this??--Dumarest (talk) 12:06, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

I agree with you on consistency. Either spelling is legitimate but Google gives more for pita whether one searches for it on its own, with bread or with bread immediately following. Of my dictionaries, Chambers gives "pitta" as primary, OED gives "pita" both list the alternates. I've not got a packet in the house and can't be bothered to thumb through recipe books. I would tend to vote against moving. I think it should be treated similarly to other spelling and stylistic variations (British v US, BC/AD v BCE/CE etc.) where possession is none tenths of the law and where those who try to change it should be strongly discouraged.--Peter cohen (talk) 17:25, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

The name is wrong. This is not 'pita', this article is about 'lepinja'. Pita is something different. Mike. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.148.81.93 (talk) 14:24, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Humus - Artichoke hummus

Recent edit results in the following on the site. The picture is identified as a pita with artichoke hummus, but the caption differs from the apparent picture as defined by its name. Is that artichoke hummus on that pita, and I think that the image and the caption should agree.--Dumarest (talk) 11:50, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

The source of the picture [1] is attached to a recipe that calls for artichoke hummus. I don't think we need be too detailed about the topping. At present everything apart form the lemon thyme gets a mention, but surely we can just say that the pits is being used as a base for a meat and hummus dish?. It would be nice to have another picture illustrating pita being used as a pocket - whih is how most Brits will encounter it in a kebab shop.--Peter cohen (talk) 19:49, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Shakshouka

Shakshouka is an appetizer made with "eggplants" and tomatoes. it's not an omelette, and it certainly does not have eggs in it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Keepeast (talk • contribs) 10:40, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

You mean Aubergines? 86.27.115.115 (talk) 15:02, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

See also - XXX Cuisine

I notice that Israeli cuisine has been added and removed while Turkish and Greek cuisines are still there and various other Arab and Balkan countries were not there at all (at least in the period I'm looking at). We need some consitency. Anyone have views on all in versus all out versus objective criteria for selecting exceptions to an all out rule?--09:40, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Levantine Cuisine should be added.--Supreme Deliciousness (talk) 09:43, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Related articles

The "related" subjects don't seem to be very related to me e.g. gibanica, blintz etc. What's the rationale behind their inclusion?Jimjamjak (talk) 10:03, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

This part is incorrect

At the very end of the article, it says that Sabich is a dish unique to Israel, in fact its an Iraqi dish brought by Iraqi jews and eaten many places is the middle east, the dish also exist in Greece but with a different name —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.120.120.62 (talk) 00:06, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Bulgaria

This text needs some improving. For example:

"each housewife prepares a pita and decorates it with symbols to bring fertility to the cattle and a rich harvest from the fields, as well as prosperity to each member of the household."

Rather suggests that all "housewives" do this. I imagine a lot of Bulgarian women work in other "occupations" than that of housewife. There is also a suggestion that everyone is somehow worried about cattle and harvests - slightly out-of-date perception of Bulgarian here in my opinion.

"She hides a nickel in it."

An American or Canadian coin? Seems pretty unlikely to me.

Anyone fancy tidying it up? Jimjamjak (talk) 12:31, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

The word pita does not mean either flatbread or flaky pastry in Bulgarian, but the article currently implies it means one of the two in Bulgarian. It (пита) means a holiday (in the loose sense -- also for things like death anniversaries) bread which can be sweet, or not (during fasting). 94.236.144.198 (talk) 12:12, 25 December 2016 (UTC)

Etymology

The etymology of the English word pita is a matter of controversy (see [2]). The existence of several similar words in medieval times that mean "thin flat bread" makes the etymology given in this Wikipedia article seem highly dubious.--84.111.117.111 (talk) 12:09, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Pronunciation

I've heard some people pronounce it with a long vowel, "peeta", "Peter", some with a short vowel "pitta", "pitter". Which is correct? Or are they both correct but maybe in different regions? Paul J Williams (talk) 13:25, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Origin of the word, false reference

OED does not refer to any Byzantine origin, in fact explains how unlikely the origin can be as suggested by Greek etymologists. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/144674?rskey=pEpref&result=2&isAdvanced=false#eid — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.248.140.221 (talk) 15:26, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Turker-zver huyasos baker

I have no idea what this means, and considered editing to remove the kind of baker, but I really have no real knowledge of such a term and it may be real -- information anyone? (Dumarest (talk) 18:23, 6 June 2012 (UTC))

Someone keeps trying to reinsert it. Google only shows Wikipedia for this term, and if it is a real term, it's certainly not English, anyway, and equally unhelpful for an English encyclopedia article. -- Irn (talk) 17:29, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Contradiction in the article

The article states: "Its history extends far into antiquity, since flatbreads in general, whether leavened or not, are among the most ancient breads, requiring no oven or utensils to make.". But it then goes on to describe how it requires an oven - and a very hot one - to make. This is a bit confusing, and the article would benefit from clarity on this subject, if anyone has the competence to add it. Nick Michael (talk) 08:35, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

I removed the "no oven..." part. I guess that it is possible to make it without an oven but nothing in the article or references I saw confirms that. Bhny (talk) 16:47, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

Etymology: cognate with pizza?

The article History of pizza maintains in its etymology section, that pizza and pita are cognates. If so - and it's not entirely clear to me - the Pita article would be improved by the addition of this fact. Nick Michael (talk) 08:42, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

Arabic Article

I noticed the Language box did not link to the Arabic article. I was going to link it up, but they don't actually have one. They have an article on matza and naan, but oddly not on the most common type of bread. The article khubz (خبز) doesn't even mention pita that much. Very odd. 96.251.15.7 (talk) 23:40, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

From Balashon

Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective: pita. I think this brings another insight on the etymology. Komitsuki (talk) 06:13, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

renaming to 'pide' per WP:COMMONNAME

Gooogle search results, 'pita': 67.500.000 while 'pide': 123.000.000, nearly 2x. kazekagetr 16:15, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Pitta/pita is the word used in English. Also, that's a useless metric, and I don't think I need to explain why. Alakzi (talk) 18:59, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Pita comes from the Hebrew (Keph/Kaph) which means a hollow rock, or hollow of the hand/palm, or palm leaf, or spoon, or bowl, thus a pocketed bread is likewise a Keph/Kaph. The name Peter given to Simon Peter Bar-Jonah is taken from Keph/Kaph. Mary Magdalene is also a (Pita). There is a Pita plant, a wild pineapple, in the Pita group of plants which includes the: Century plant, Agave, Aloe, and wild pineapple. The Latin scientific name is Ananas magdalenae (translated in Hebrew means, "A strong tower highly favored of GOD [sacred name]"). This is unlike the Tower of Babel (Magdla d'Babel - Syriac name) which was highly unfavored by GOD. How can Living Water gush from a rock in the desert unless that rock by hollow? 99.2.124.33 (talk) 17:26, 8 August 2016 (UTC)