The first documented use of the word “pizza” has been traced all the way back to 997 A.D. in Gaeta, Italy. Pizza was born in Italy and was mainly only prepared and eaten there until World War II. Troops stationed in Italy fell in love with this new foreign food and pizza was brought back to other parts of the world. One of the most interesting pizza facts is that in the 16th century, many people thought tomatoes were poisonous, but after they tasted them as a topping on pizza, they fell in love and the traditional pizza form began to take shape. Read more fun facts about pizza below:
10 Tasty Pizza Facts
- Humans consume 100 acres of pizza a day in the United States. (source)
- The favorite and most requested pizza topping by a 36 percent margin is pepperoni. (source)
- The world record for the largest pizza ever made was over 122 ft. in diameter and weighed over 26,883 pounds. (source) The pizza was made with 9,920 lbs of flour, 198 lbs of salt, 3,968 lbs of cheese, and 1,984 lbs of tomato puree. It was made in Norwood, South Africa on December 8, 1990.
- There is an international festival dedicated to pizza every year in Las Vegas.(source) The largest gathering in the world for pizza for cooks and enthusiasts. The Pizza Expo is a weekend of competitions and events, this year will be its 37th year!
- The longest pizza delivery was a distance of 12,346.6 miles (19,870 km). (source) A pizza was hand delivered from Opera Pizza in Madrid, Spain to Wellington, New Zealand. The trip took 5 days from June 28th to July 1st in 2006.
- Pizza has been delivered to space once! (source) Pizza Hut delivered a space pizza to a Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachov at the ISS space station. The pizza was put on a Russian launch rocket which was already on its way to resupply the station.
- In Japan you can get your pizza topped with Mayonnaise. (source)It’s a staple on the Mayo Janga pie which also includes potato, corn, onions pancetta and paprika. Other popular toppings in Japan include squid ink, fish egg, and fermented soybeans.
- The highest grossing pizza restaurant in the United States that is not a chain rakes in annual sales of around $6 million! (source) The Moose’s Tooth, located in the city of Anchorage, Alaska sets the record.
- The most expensive pizza available for order costs $12,000. (source) The Louis XIII Pizza takes 72 hours to make and has caviar, red prawns, lobster marinated in cognac, and champagne from 1995.
- America’s first pizzeria is Lombardi’s Pizza located in New York City. (source) It has been declared a national historic institute and was opened in 1905.
