It’s safe to say that everyone loves pizza because it’s the PERFECT food:
-It tastes like heaven.
-You don’t need to use plates.
-You can top it with anything you want.
-It can be delivered to your house.
-You can eat it hot or cold.
-You can even center your whole afternoon around the Original Brooklyn Pizza Tour.
What’s not to love?
Here are a few things you might not know about your favorite food.
1. What are the top pizza eating days of the year?
Any day is a good day for a slice, but some days are more popular than others. Those days are Super Bowl Sunday, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Eve and Halloween.
2. What does Alexander Dumas have to do with pizza?
In 1845, author Alexander Dumas went to Naples, Italy where the flatbread style originated. He noted that the poor class preferred to eat pizza. It was a humble food that was easy to make and affordable.
3. Pizza Spies? Yep, that’s a thing.
In the late 1960s the Army’s 113th Military Intelligence Unit spied on politicians and reporters by posting as delivery drivers.
. Which celebrities delivered pizza before becoming stars?
Bill Murray, Stephen Baldwin, Jean Claude Van Damme and Peter Berg.
5. How much do we eat anyway?
Americans eat 46 slices of pizza per year (that’s 23 pounds annually). We eat 100 acres per day and 350 slices per second! That’s a whole lot of pizza.
6. What is the most popular topping?
If you guessed pepperoni, you’re right! 36% of pizza’s ordered in the U.S. are topped with pepperoni. That’s 251,770,000 pounds each year! The least favorite? Anchovies!
7. Remember when Ellen Degeneres had pizza delivered to the Academy Awards?
She tipped the delivery man $1000!
8. How many pizzerias are in the U.S.?
There are over 61,000 pizzerias in the U.S. (and the best are in Brooklyn? ).
9. When was the first online delivery?
We use computers to order food all the time, but that’s a recent thing. The first pie ordered via computer took place in 1974. A group at the University of Michigan ordered one to test a speaking computer. They ordered pepperoni, mushroom, ham and sausage.
10. Let’s celebrate pizza!
Is pizza your favorite food ever? Well you get a whole month to celebrate the cheesy, tomatoey delight: October is National Pizza Month!
11. When did the first pizzeria open in the United States?
It was Lombardi’s which opened in 1905 by Gennaro Lombardi in New York City.
12. It can prevent cancer.
It’s true! The lycopene in pizza sauce is an antioxidant that lowers the risk of cancer. Regular pizza eaters have 34% less risk of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer, 59% less risk of esophageal cancer, and 25% less risk of colon cancer.
13. Pizza Margherita is fit for a Queen.
In 1889 a pizza maker from Naples named Raffaele Esposito, who some consider the father of modern pizza, created a pie to match the colors of the Italian flag for Queen Margherita. It was topped with cheese, tomato and basil.
Want to learn more? You’ve come to the right place. Come on our Brooklyn Pizza Tour next time you’re in the NYC area to learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the perfect food. Not to mention, you’ll taste the best pizza in the world!
