Pizza facts that will make you order one ASAP!
There is no other food in the world that’s more savory than pizza. And whoever thinks otherwise, we certainly cannot be friends! I am kidding, of course.
According to the National Association of Pizza Operators, Americans eat roughly 100 acres of pizza every day, which is roughly 350 slices per second! Around 93% of Americans eat pizza at least once a month. And because we love pizza so much, in Philadelphia there is the Museum of Pizza, which has the biggest collection of pizza-related items. It’s worth visiting!
But how many things do we really know about our go-to food? Let’s do something; by the end of the article, you may comment on all the facts that you already know and give your opinion about the new ones. I am eager to chat with you.
Italians weren’t the ones who invented the pizza
Pizza is typically associated with Italian cuisine, but its history dates back thousands of years. Greeks and Egyptians began making a flatbread pizza and sprinkling it with spices and olive oil.
When tomatoes were introduced in Naples, Italy, in the late 1700s, the “modern pizza,” as we know it today, began to take shape.
The first pizza was square-shaped
Although we all adore the way a round pizza looks, the original pizzas were square or rectangular in shape! These pizzas were made with traditional Italian flatbread and topped with basic regional ingredients.
In the waterfront city of Naples, they were a favorite among the working class because they were inexpensive to produce and provided a lot of energy.
The Hawaiian pizza originated in Canada
The pineapple-topped pizza isn’t native to the Hawaiian islands; rather, it was created by a Canadian chef, who also gave it its tropical nickname.
36% of Americans eat pizza as a breakfast meal
Nobody would shy away from a sizeable slice of pizza, especially in the morning after a hangover or simply because you deserve to indulge yourself with something tasty. According to studies, almost 40% of Americans eat pizza instead of cereals for breakfast.
After all, we cannot compare proteins with fiber, right?
The 9th of February was voted International Pizza Day
For World Pizza Day, be sure to order a pizza! Everyone loves this food, so there’s a globally recognized day to celebrate it! The celebration has already passed this year, but keep it in mind for next February!
I don’t know about you, but if I had established these celebrations, I would have voted for every day to be pizza day.
October is National Pizza Month
Oh, awesome! I told you that this mouthwatering food needs more than just one day a year. In October 1984, Gerry Durnell, the editor-in-chief of Pizza Today magazine, came up with this brilliant idea.
Now an annual celebration, perhaps Gerry’s decision to declare October National Pizza Month was influenced by the fact that Halloween is one of the busiest days of the pizza year. Who knows?
Pepperoni is the best topping of all times
This one is easy to figure out, but we now have the data to back it up! Pepperoni was the most popular topping in January 2016, with sausage coming in second.
Japanese love pizza with mayo!
Pizza is loved by all nations worldwide, and in each country, the dish has been changed or adapted to local traditions. For example, while Americans love pizza with a generous amount of ketchup on top, Italians consider ketchup a “crime,” and Japanese like it with mayo.
The kind of mayonnaise made in Japan tastes sweeter than the kind we use in the US, so they might think of it as being like ketchup.
The luxury pizza costs $12,000
Nope, it doesn’t have a topping made of gold; it’s something about the dough that makes it so expensive. The chef properly ages the dough before arriving at your house. Yes, you’ve read it well; a chef will cook the pizza in your house.
Three kinds of caviar, lobster from Norway and Cilento, buffalo mozzarella cheese, and pink sea salt grains from the Murray River are some of the things that go over the pizza you’ve paid $12,000 for.
Americans dislike anchovies on their pizza
With pepperoni at our disposal, nobody, absolutely nobody, would prefer anchovies on their pizza. Honestly, now, they stink! I’d rather go for tuna, but only when all the supermarkets are out of stock for sausages or pepperoni! And maybe not even then.
Margherita Pizza was named after the Queen Margherita of Savoy
Back in the day when Queen Margherita of Savoy visited Naples, people were eating pizza as a simple dish, nothing too fancy. However, she wanted to taste it too.
In contrast to the decadent French-style cuisine that was being served in European courts at the time, she tried the dish and was blown away by how light and delicious it was.
The Italian flag’s colors—red tomato, white mozzarella, and green basil—were used to create the pizza known as Margherita, which was named after Queen Margherita.
Papa’s Tomato Pies is the oldest place to bake and sell pizza from America
Giuseppe Papa founded this family-run pizzeria on South Clinton Avenue in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1912. Since its opening, the Papa family continues to run it and we sure hope they won’t close it!
Pizza is so good that it has been delivered in space
For delivering a six-inch pizza to the International Space Station in 2001, the Russian Space Agency received payment exceeding one million dollars. The first man to receive pizza delivered while in orbit was Yuri Usachov, a Russian cosmonaut.
WWII “brought” pizza to everybody
Before the start of WWII, pizza was known mainly in Italy. To make up for their occasionally diminishing rations, Allied troops started consuming regional cuisine while occupying Italy.
The US soldiers brought their love of pizza home with them after the war, and the local bakers could barely keep up with their demands.
Around the turn of the century, there were significant numbers of Southern Italian immigrants in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Trenton. They brought their passion for pizza with them when they got there.
A Romanian ate 200 pounds of pizza over a week
Cristian Dumitru surpassed Takeru Kobayashi to set a new world record in 2006 by stuffing himself with 200 pounds of pizza in a single week. We wonder if after that week the guy is still eating pizza. (haha)
Jean Claude Van Damme worked as a pizza delivery man
Both Bill Murray and Jean Claude Van Damme were pizza restaurant employees; before he became an actor Van Damme was also a delivery driver. Somehow we think we like pizza even more now!
There is a competition for dough-spinning
We all love eating pizza, but what about the work behind it? Those who love making pizza from scratch or following traditional recipes can enter the World Pizza Championship.
You would compete against the top players in five competitive events at the World Pizza Championships: the Pizza Triathlon, the Fastest Dough, the Largest Dough Stretch, the Fastest Pizza Box Folding, and Freestyle Acrobatic Dough Tossing. Additionally, there is Freestyle Acrobatic Dough Tossing’s masters division.
Sounds fun, heh?
Super Bowl Sunday is the most profitable day for pizza delivery
The two things go hand in hand like two pieces of a pie because Americans love pizza and football. Pizza is served on the other four days. Halloween, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the day before Thanksgiving.
The pizza industry is worth 37 billion dollars
Seeing these prices, it’s absolutely clear how much we love pizza. Over a million people are hired by US pizzerias in 73,000 locations nationwide, according to the American Pizza Community.
How often do YOU eat pizza? Tell us in the comments.
You may also want to read: 50 Refrigerator Facts: Unlock the Secrets of Your Fridge!
