Pissaladiere or Pissaladina is a pizza-like dish made in southern France, around the Nice, Marseilles, Toulon and the Var District, and in the Italian region of Liguria, especially in the Imperia district. Believed to have been introduced to the area by Roman cooks during the time of the Avignon Papacy, it can be considered a type of white pizza, as no tomatoes are used. The dough is usually a bread dough thicker than that of the classic Italian pizza, although a pâte brisée (pastry) is sometimes used instead, and the traditional topping consist of sauteed (almost pureed) onions, olives, garlic and anchovies (either whole or in the form of pissalat, a type of anchovy paste).
No cheese is used in France; however in the nearby Italian town of San Remo, mozzarella is added. Now served as an appetizer, it was traditionally cooked and sold early each morning. The etymology of the word seems to be from Old French pescion from the Latin piscis, which in turn became the pissalat (‘salted fish’) anchovy paste mentioned above.
The Daily Omnivore 
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