On September 5th, National Cheese Pizza Day says, “Hold the toppings!” That’s right, cheese is all you need when celebrating this pizza holiday. Whether the pie is homemade or ordered in, make it cheese only.
- In ancient Greece, the Greeks covered their bread with oils, herbs, and cheese which some believe is the beginning of the “pizza”.
- In Byzantine Greek, the word was spelled “πίτα”, pita, meaning pie. A sheet of dough topped with cheese and honey, then flavored with bay leaves was developed by the Romans.
- The modern pizza had its beginning in Italy as the Neapolitan flatbread.
- The original pizza used only mozzarella cheese, mainly the highest quality buffalo mozzarella variant which was produced in the surroundings of Naples.
- It was estimated that the annual production of pizza cheese in the United States in 1997 was 2 billion pounds.
- In 1905, Gennaro Lombardi opened the first licensed American pizzeria, Lombardi’s Pizzeria Napoletana, at 53-1/2 Spring Street in New York City.
- Pizza has become one of America’s favorite meals.
- About 93% of Americans eat at least one pizza every month.
- About 350 slices of pizza are consumed every second in the United States.
- The most pizzas are delivered (and eaten) on New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, Thanksgiving Eve, and Super Bowl Sunday.
- The three dots in the Domino’s Pizza logo represent the first three Domino’s Pizza stores.
- Pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping in the United States.
- 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.
- n 1830 pizza truly began with the opening of the world’s first pizzeria. Named Port’Alba, the pizzas were cooked in an oven lined with lava from Mount Vesuvius, a volcano located on the Bay of Naples.
- In the 1800s, most Italians thought of pizza as a peasant meal. That changed when a baker named Raffaele Esposito created a margarita pizza for visiting royalty. The king and queen were impressed by the colors of the Italian flag represented by the pizza’s white mozzarella cheese, red tomato sauce, and green basil. Pizza became fashionable overnight and was soon a staple in restaurants all across the country.
- There are approximately 61,269 pizzerias in the United States.
-
Photo: John the Baker, Pembroke Pines According to a recent Gallup Poll, kids between the ages of 3 to 11 prefer pizza over all other food groups for lunch and dinner.
- Regular thin pizza crust is still the most popular crust, preferred by 61 percent of the population. Thick crust and deep dish tied for second, at 14%. Only 11 percent of the population prefers extra thin.
- Of the more than 5 billion pizzas sold worldwide, approximately 3 billion are sold in the US each year — that’s 46 slices a year per person.
- Approximately 251,770,000 lbs. of pepperoni are consumed each year — probably on pizza since 36% of all pizza orders include pepperoni.
- Not surprisingly, Saturday is the most popular night to eat pizza.
- The Super Bowl is number one pizza day in the US, followed by Halloween, the day before Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.
- 62% of Americans choose meat-based toppings, 38% choose veggie toppings—women are 2X as likely to order vegetables on their pizza.
- The average pizzeria uses roughly 55 pizza boxes per day.
- The word “Pizza” was first documented around 997 AD in Gaeta, Italy. After that, the name started to spread to different parts of central and southern Italy.
- Did you know that there is a technical term for “crust”? Well, there is, it’s called cornicione or the “end crust”.
- The first frozen pizza hit the market in 1962. Tontino’s, which started as Totino’s Italian Kitchen is said to be the first company to offer frozen pizza in 1962. Apparently they did pretty good, Pillsbury bought the company in 1975.
- 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. The rest is history.
- Dough-spinning has its own professional-level sporting event
At the World Pizza Championships, you would be competing against the best in five competitive events Freestyle Acrobatic Dough Tossing, Fastest Dough, Largest Dough Stretch, Fastest Pizza Box Folding and the Pizza Triathlon. There’s also the masters division of Freestyle Acrobatic Dough Tossing. - The U.S. Military Lab recently invented a ready-to-eat pizza
This handy pizza can last for up to three years. Intended for soldiers abroad who just have to have a slice. Making its grand entrance in 2017 solders can open MRE #37 and enjoy their treat! - Italian researchers have claimed eating pizza regularly reduced the risk of developing oesophageal cancer by 59%, colon cancer also fell by 26% & mouth cancer by 34%.
- One of the first documented Internet purchases was a pizza Pepperoni with mushrooms and extra cheese. This was one of the first recorded purchases made online around 1994. Now more purchases are made online over any other method.
Sources:
