From which country does pitta bread originate?

Pita, or pitta, is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely-known version with an interior pocket, also known as Arabic bread, Syrian bread, and other names, as well as pocketless versions such as the Greek pita, used to wrap "souvlaki" (Greek fast food).

The first mention of the word in English cited in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1936. The English word is borrowed from Modern Greek "πίτα", in turn from the Byzantine Greek "πίτα" meaning "bread, cake, pie, pitta" (attested in 1108).

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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38 Comments

Dirk A Schnarr

Actually the correct answer is the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East

Joan Plato

Itoo thought pita bread was of arab origin

Rashi Rosenzweig

Uhmm...nope. Comes from the mid-east, not Greece.

Dog001

There is a distinction to be made "which is being lost". The modern Pita bread that can form a pocket, is more than likely of Greek origin. Prior to that and dating back to the Stone Age, the flat bread "made much the same way" can be traced back to Natufian people in what is now Jordan. There is no record of the steam-puffed, two-layer "pocket pita" in the ancient texts, or in any of the medieval Arab cookbooks. Even the original Greek Pita is a thicker pocketless flat bread. Pita is American English. Pitta is British English. That being said, in modern times, even the traditional flat breads with varying names are being called Pita Bread. The traditional names Pikte, Picta, Pite, Pitka, and various spellings of Pita, all mean "Bread". So if were talking about the traditional flatbread, they originated in the Stone Age in the Middle East. If your talking about the modern Pita, then more than likely Greece is the origin.

janellejaworski

Oh yum 😋 I love pitta bread.

Rob Farr

Its' origin is actually in the Middle East ... and that wasn't even an option ...

Player

Going by the explanation the question seems to be about the origin of the word pitta as opposed to the actual bread.

natalia

Another incorrect option. It's not Greece. Pitta Bread originates from Middle East.

natalia

Another incorrect option. It's not Greece. Pitta Bread originates from Middle East.

Marianne

I beg to differ. The pitta bread originated in the Middle East. If you must give it a country, then it would be Jordan.

erik hughes

Now we know - one of the Bots is supposed to be British... "pitta bread" indeed. More disinformation from Wikipedia, everyone, as most all of the "pitta bread" I have had, has had "an interior pocket" to hold the Gyro meat, sauce and veggies.

Carroll Price

Nearly identical to Indian Naan bread, except in the way it's cooked - stovetop for Naan vs oven for Pita.

james parrillo

Richard Lowe, I thought, maybe, Israel. Then, it was not a defined area until 1948, so I will have to check what area it was before then. Thank you, Christine, James' wife

Humberto Carrasco

GOT IT RIGHT

ninakamwene

Dirk A Schnarr, DITTO

Mr.LaFaye

Very Debatable Answer. But none the less; semi toasted pita bread with hummus or a warm room temp herbed olive oil, is so damn good. People also ask Where did pita bread originate from? The exact origins of pita bread are difficult to pin down, but archaeologists have determined that it was first made by groups of people from the west of the Mediterranean — most likely either the Bedouins or the Amorites. As Bedouins traveled to Arabian and Saharan deserts, pita bread became more widespread.