National Pizza Day on February 9th celebrates one of America’s all-time favorite foods. Whether it is thin crust, Chicago-style, deep dish or anything in between, pizza is an American favorite.
- 6th Century BC – Writings from Darius the Great record findings of flatbreads that are topped with dates and cheese, which is possibly the earliest mention of something like pizza
- 997 AD – The word “pizza“ dates back over 1000 years. The first known documentation of the word is in a Latin text from 997 C.E.
- 1000 AD – Roughly 1,000 years ago herb-and-spice-covered circles of baked dough grew exceptionally popular in Naples, Italy. Known as focaccia, these rounds were served as an appetizer or a snack.
- 1522 – Following the import of tomatoes to Europe, the people of Naples begin combining them with flatbreads. Naples’ status as a port city means sailors and travelers spread the word throughout Europe
- 1738 – Antica Pizzeria, the first Pizzeria, opened in Naples, Italy, in 1738.
- 1830 – In Naples, Italy, the world’s first pizza restaurant opened and began to replace the street vendors who sold slices to local artists, students, and others with low incomes.
- 1861 – King Umberto and Queen Margherita of the newly unified Italy visit Naples and the Margherita pizza gets its name
- 1895 – Gennaro Lombardi, the first Pizzeria in the United States, opened in 1895 in New York City.
- 1933 – At first, pizzas were sold exclusively by the pie. But in 1933, Patsy Iancieri (of Patsy’s pizzeria in New York City) started selling pizza by the slice—a trend that was quickly picked up by other pizzerias.
- 1940s – Immigrants to New York in the 1940s brought along the Neopolitan delight that is pizza.
- 1943 – Pizzeria Uno in Chicago invents the deep dish pizza, sparking the still unsettled debate of whether a casserole can be a pizza.
- 1958 – Pizza Hut the leading chain pizza restaurant was founded in Wichita, Kansas
- 1962 – The first frozen pizza hit the market in 1962. It mostly tasted like cardboard until the genius food inventor Rose Totino got her hands on it.
- 1962 – The Hawaiian pizza was invented in Canada in 1962 by Sam Panopoulos, a native of Greece who was running a pizzeria in Ontario, Canada. Bored with only having three toppings available mushroom, bacon or pepperoni he took down a can of pineapples from the top shelf and decided to throw it on pizza.
- 2016 – NASA funded & tested a 3D printer that can make pizza for astronauts.
- The BeeHex company received a NASA grant. source
- 2022 – an estimated 12.5 million pizzas were sold in the U.S. on Super Bowl game day
- Pepperoni is the most popular pizza at 53% of all pies ordered.
- Over 3 billion pizzas are sold in the USA each year. Add another 1 billion on frozen pizzas
- There are over 80,000 pizzerias in the U.S. — 56% are independently owned, and 44% are chain restaurants.
- Americans consume over 23 pounds of pizza per person each year.
- Americans order 350 slices of pizza every second.
- The highest consumption of pizza in the world per capita is in Norway.
- The average pizza place uses roughly 55 pizza boxes per day.
- We consume around 251,770,000 pounds of pepperonis every year.
- 93 percent of Americans have eaten pizza in the last month.
- Kids ages 3 to 11 prefer pizza over all other food groups
- Saturday is the most popular night to eat pizza.
- Women are twice as likely as men to order vegetarian toppings on their pizza.
- 61% of people prefer thin crust.
- Each year, thousands of people involved in the pizza industry attend Pizza Expo, the world’s largest pizza-only trade show. The Pizza Expo is held each year in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- One in six males aged 2 to 39 eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on any given day
- Pizza accounts for more than 10 percent of all food service sales.
- Italian is the most popular type of ethnic food in America.
- 62% of Americans prefer meat toppings while 38% prefer vegetables.
- The first American cities to start selling pizza were New York, Boston, New Haven, Conn., and Trenton, N.J. all four of these cities had an influx of southern Italian immigrants around the turn of the century.
- Currently, there are over 19,000 Pizza Huts around the world with 6827 in the USA.
- One of the biggest days for pizzerias around the country is Super Bowl Sunday. Pizza is a major staple to this sports event, with an average of 2.5 million pizzas sold just from Pizza Hut alone.
- On Super Bowl Sunday sales at pizzerias rose by 35%. And the majority of people place their pizza orders an hour before kickoff.
- According to the United States Department of Agriculture, about 13 percent of Americans eat pizza daily.
- According to a study conducted by the USDA, pizza is an extremely popular meal choice among men. Its most popular demographic is among males ages 6-19 years since more than 1 in 4 of them consumes pizza on any day.
- A typical daily pizza serving accounts for over half of our lycopene diet. Lycopene, which is an antioxidant that has been proven to help prevent cancer and heart disease in a study published by the Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, is prominent in pizza. This is mainly due to the tomato sauce in pizza since tomatoes are known to have a naturally high concentration of antioxidants.
- One 18-inch pizza gives you more pizza than two 12-inch pizzas – source
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