October is National Pizza Month, and the pizza pie is certainly something to celebrate. The delicious food eaten regularly by a whopping 94 percent of Americans. I think there are few things that 94% of people agree upon – the doughy, cheesy, tomato-y pizza goodness may be the only thing so universally enjoyed in this country.
Here are 10 fun facts about pizza.
1. Americans consume the equivalent of approximately about 23 lbs., or 46 slices, of pizza every year.
2. Pizza is now a $30 billion industry in the U.S.
3. Approximately 17 percent of all restaurants in America are pizzerias. There are more than 61,000 pizzerias in the United States.
4. Therefore, it is no surprise that pizza constitutes more than 10 percent of all food service sales.
5. The first pizzeria in the U.S. was Lombardi’s, opened in 1905 in New York City by an Italian immigrant.
6. In the U.S., 60% of orders include pepperoni, the most popular pizza topping. In Germany, tuna is the most popular topping and fried eggs are big pizza toppers in France. Go figure.
7. The kind of pizza that Americans prefer often depends on where they live or were raised. Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, famously ranted against Chicago-style deep dish pizza, calling it a casserole (and that was one of the nicer descriptors that he used). You can see him passionately pontificate about pizza and offend a decent portion of Chicago residents here, but be warned that there’s a fair amount of bleeping required.
8. The most popular days for ordering pizza are Super Bowl Sunday, Halloween, the day before Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
9. Congress designated October as National Pizza Month in 1987.
10. Parents are probably already crystal clear on this fact, but a recent Gallup Poll found that kids between ages 3 and 11 prefer pizza to all other offerings for lunch and dinner.
If you’ve never made your own pizza, give it a shot. It’s a very kid-friendly activity and here’s a recipe for delicious dough. Ordering in also a fabulous way to mark National Pizza Month, but can I recommend that you skip the tuna as a topping?
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