Fun Facts about Pizza -- National Cheese Pizza Day!

Today is National Cheese Pizza Day! In honor of this favorite treat, I thought I would look at some fun facts about pizza and share a round-up of crafts, books and recipes. So go grab a slice and enjoy!!

Fun Facts

1. The first pizza is thought to have been invented in the early 1500s in Naples. Poorer people would put tomatoes (thought to be poisonous and thus cheap) on dough and top it with cheese and bake it. The original pizzas are believed to be square-shaped like the pan and had Romano cheese instead of mozzarella cheese.





2. The first documentation of the word pizza is from 997 AD. It is contained in a manuscript in a small Italian town called Gaeta.
3. The first documented pizzeria opened in 1830 in Port’Alba, Naples. The pizzeria was called Antica Pizzeria and it was here that the Margherita pizza was created after Queen Margherita of Italy.



Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba, Naples By Alexandra Hamer [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons




4. The first pizzeria in the United States was opened in 1905 in New York City. It was Lombardi’s Pizza. It was originally a grocery store but began selling pizzas in 1905.



Lombardi's Pizzeria 2013 By Beyond My Ken [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons




5. Pizza was not very popular until after World War II. The American soldiers that were stationed in Italy brought the idea back to the United States and it gained in popularity.
6. About 13% of Americans eat pizza on any given day. 1 in 6 males aged 2 to 39 eat pizza for breakfast, lunch or dinner on any given day. For ages 6 to 19 it is 1 in 4. 350 slices of pizza are eaten each second in the United States. The United States is one of the biggest pizza consumers and every year $38 billion worth of pizza is sold annually. 3 billion pizzas are sold each year in the United States each year. 93% of Americans have at least one slice of pizza per month. For kids 44% of pizza eating happens at lunch and for adults 59% of pizza eating happens at dinner. The average American eats over 23 pounds of pizza a year.  
7. The most popular size of pizza in the United States is 14 inches in diameter.  There are over 70 thousand pizzerias in the United States and 9,000 of them are in New York state. The average pizzeria uses 55 boxes per day.
8. 61% of Americans prefer thin crust and 14 % prefer deep dish. 
9. The consumption of pizza has increased American’s consumption of cheese by 41% since 1995.
10. The most expensive pizza costs around $12,000 at a pizzeria in Italy and it measures 20 cm so it is a pizza for two. It is topped with lobster, buffalo mozzarella, three types of caviar, squilla mantis, and pink Australian salt. Chef Renato Viola created this pizza and calls it Louis XIII. The largest pizza was named Ottavia and was made in Fiera Roma in Rome, Italy by Dovilio Nardi, Andrea Mannocchi, Marco Nardi, Matteo Nardi and Matteo Giannotte of NIPfood on December 13, 2012. It had a diameter of 122 feet 8 inches and was gluten free.
11. In New York City the average price for a slice of pizza is the same as a subway ride.



Mayo-Corn Pizza in Japan By Lombroso [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons




12. In Japan some common toppings are squid and mayonnaise as well as corn, potatoes, and tuna. In Cambodia “happy” pizza is cooked with marijuana. In Scottland the most popular choice is deep friend pizza. In Australia eggs are a common topping.



Deep Fried Pizza By User:Stx [Public domain or FAL], via Wikimedia Commons




13. Super Bowl Sunday is a big pizza day. Pizza delivery sales rise by 35% on Super Bowl Sunday. Delivery drivers log a total of four million miles worth of deliveries on Super Bowl Sunday. 2,500,000 pizzas are sold from Pizza Hut during the Super Bowl. 

Craft & Recipe Round-Up

Ready for some fun. We have some books, crafts and activities and recipes (some go with books and more) and they include a dough and sauce recipe, so you can make your own cheese pizza today to celebrate!!

1) 10 Pizza Books from Growing Book by Book

2) Paper Pizza Craft for Kids from Artsy Craftsy Mom

3) Learn Fractions with Pizza Pretend Play from In Our Pond

4) Pizza Dip from Amanda's Cookin

5) Oh Toodles! Pizza (Mickey Mouse Club) 

6) Homemade Pizza Sauce from Saving Dollars & Sense

7) Froggy's Favorite Pizza to go with Jonathan London's Froggy Series

8) Rocket Pizza from Growing Book by Book

9) Margherita Pizza

10) Fresh Tomato & Zucchini Pizza from Stylish Cravings

11) Biscuit Pizza Bread from Saving Dollars & Sense

12) Grilled Pepperoni Pizza Sandwich from Saving Dollars & Sense

13) Easy Homemade Pizza Dough from Saving Dollars & Sense

14) Mini Fruit Pizza from Saving Dollars & Sense

15) Easy Fruit Pizza from Amanda's Cookin

16) Beer Battered Fish Pizza from Stylish Cravings

Sources:

• Guinness World Records. Largest Pizza. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-pizza
• Hussein, Jennifer. Eat This, Not That! 50 Mouthwatering Facts about Pizza. 13 October 2017. https://www.eatthis.com/pizza-facts/
• Man^oosh Pizzeria Blog. The 5 Most Expensive Pizzas in the World. https://www.manoosh.com.au/the-most-expensive-pizzas-in-the-world/
• Myrick, Richard. Mobile Cuisine. Pizza Fun Facts. https://mobile-cuisine.com/did-you-know/pizza-fun-facts/
• Pizza.com Pizza Fun Facts. http://pizza.com/fun-facts
• Rhodes DG, Adler ME, Clemens JC, LaComb RP, Moshfegh AJ. Consumption of Pizza: What We Eat in America, NHANES 2007-2010. Food Surveys Research Group Dietary Data Brief No. 11. February 2014.