Who doesn’t love a good cheese pizza? From the gooey cheese to the rich tomato sauce, pizza really is the perfect food. Pizza is popular not only in the U.S., but around the world. It’s estimated that more than 5 billion pizzas are sold throughout the world each year. That’s a lot of pizza! How much do you really know about this simple, yet tantalizing dish? We’ve put some fun facts together that you can enjoy while eating what else, pizza on National Cheese pizza day.
The History Of Pizza
Pizza was actually “invented” in Italy. The pizza that we know today that’s topped with tomato sauce and cheese dates back to the 18th century. It was believed that tomatoes were poisonous, but some individuals were so desperate for food that they used them on flatbread that was normally topped with olive oil and herbs by wealthier citizens. Pizza was actually considered a food only for the peasants and it wasn’t until some of the local aristocracy decided to try a piece that it became popular. It wasn’t long after that, that pizza was sold on Naple’s streets. The first pizzeria, “Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba” came into existence in Naples in 1830.
Fun Facts About Pizza
- The first pizzeria in the U.S. was opened by Gennaro Lombardi. In 1905 he was issued a mercantile license that allowed him to sell pizza in the grocery store hat he opened in 1897. It was his employee, Anonio Totonno Pero, that made the first pizza to sell.
- Pizzerias go through an average of 55 pizza boxes every day.
- About 36% of pizzas are topped with pepperoni. This accounts for the approximately 251,770,000 pounds of pepperoni that is eaten every year.
- When it comes to pizza, you can put just about any topping you want onto it. In Japan, squid is one of the most popular pizza toppings. Other countries prefer toppings like potatoes, dandelions, oysters and tuna.
- Pizzerias account for about 17% of all the restaurants in the United States. There are over 61,000 pizzerias in the U.S. and the highest grossing one is Moose’s Tooth Pub in Anchorage, Alaska which has sales each year that gross around $6 million dollars.
- Each year Americans as a whole eat around 100 acres of pizza. About 93% of Americans have eaten pizza sometime within the last month.
- The most popular night during the week to order a pizza is on Saturdays. Pizza is most often ordered when the news is on or when there is bad weather. About 36% of people think that pizza is the perfect food to have for breakfast as well.
- The most popular days for pizza sales are Super Bowl Sunday, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, the evening before Thanksgiving and on New Year’s Day.
- The most popular pizza size is only 14 inches in diameter. However, the largest pizza ever made had a diameter of 122 feet and 8 inches and consisted of 3,968 pounds of cheese, 9,920 pounds of flour and 1,984 pounds of tomato puree.
- Most Americans prefer regular, thin crust pizza.
- About 38% of Americans choose vegetables over meat on their pizza.
- Eating pizza can be good for your health. Some studies suggest that you can lower your risk of getting esophageal cancer by eating a slice of pizza once a week.
- Italy is trying to pass a bill in Parliament that specifies what constitutes a pizza. If the bill passes only pizzas that have specific processing methods and ingredients can call themselves “traditional Italian pizzas”.
Whether you like deep dish pizza topped with just cheese or thin crust pizza with pepperoni, make sure you order one tonight to celebrate National Cheese Pizza Day. There are literally hundreds of different combinations that you could come up with. Don’t forget to have a slice for us!!
