If there’s one thing America loves, it’s pizza. Some intriguing, fun facts attesting to this are that 350 slices of pizza are eaten in America every second, and you’re likely to eat 6,000 slices of pizza throughout your life if you live in the US. Pizza’s powers have wafted beyond the US borders, and this cheese-laden love affair now extends worldwide. No matter the type you like, it’s delicious, cheesy, and available everywhere, but you’d be surprised about the wild and fun facts you don’t know about pizza.
Let’s explore more fun facts about this awesome combo of dough, cheese, and sauce to ponder the next time you’re enjoying a slice.
The First Pizza
This is one of the pizza facts likely to catch you off guard. You may think of Italy when you think of the first pizza, but pizza’s origins go way back. The first pizza was a flatbread. Historical records have pizza dating back to the 6th Century BC, where Persian soldiers baked flatbreads covered with cheese and dates on their shields.
Pizza-like food has been with us since the new stone age and ancient times. Babylonians, Israelites, and Egyptians all baked flatbreads in mud ovens. The idea of toppings is also not new. Ancient Greeks and Romans would use hot stones or hot ashes for baking flatbreads then spread their favorite toppings on top, including mushrooms, herbs, and olive oil.
Evidence found in 79 AD Pompeii and Neopolis under the ashes of Mount Vesuvius eruption shows shops with flat cakes resembling pizza.
It’s more accurate to say the Italians perfected pizza. In the 16th Century, the working poor of Naples, Italy, placed tomatoes on their yeast dough, creating the first simple modern-day pizza you know of today. Back then, pizza was peasant bread and considered a poor man’s food.
According to legend, bakers would squash their excess dough flat and use it to keep their ovens warm. They would then sell it to poor people who needed a cheap and easy meal to eat on the move. Little did they know it would be viral years later.
The First-ever Pizzeria In The World Is The Port’Alba
The now-famous Antica Pizzeria Port’ Alba holds the honor of being the first pizzeria in the world. A pizzeria refers to a pizza restaurant or a place where pizzas are made or sold. Naturally, Port’ Alba is in Naples, where the modern-day pizza was born. Its roots trace back to 1738 when it opened shop as a stand for passersby and pedlars who cooked their pizza in wood ovens and kept them warm in tin stoves balanced on their heads.
Close to 100 years later, the Antica Pizzeria Port’ Alba officially opened as an authentic pizzeria in 1830 in the heart of Naples at Via Port Alba 18. It took the place of street vendors and quickly became a vibrant meeting point.
Travelers, merchants, and traders entering the city through Port Alba would visit the pizzeria to do business or take a break while enjoying some great food. Frequent patrons were students, artists, or locals with very little money. As a result, the pizzas were made generally simple and topped with garlic or oil.
The Antica Pizzeria Port’ Alba is still in operation today, standing tall between a line of bookstores. As a true pizza lover, it’s one of the destinations that should be on your bucket list.
The First Pizzeria In America was Lombardi’s in New York City
Lombardi’s, opened in New York by Gennaro Lombardi in 1905, is credited as the first pizzeria in America. Another pizza fact is that it’s also the oldest pizzeria in New York and has been churning out coal-fired pies for 116 years.
Arriving from Naples in the 1890s, Lombardi initially opened a grocery store in 1897 to sell tomato pies, precursors to American pizza. He sold pizza as a way of using up leftover dough and cheese. However, pizzas became so popular that he applied for the first license to make and sell pizza in the US in 1905 and opened a restaurant dedicated entirely to pizza.
Although influenced by Naples pies, he had to adapt the pizza to Americans, and coal-powered ovens soon substituted wood-fired ovens. Lombardi’s became the inaugural inductee of the Pizza Hall of Fame in 2005, celebrating its 100th anniversary.
It remains a bona fide destination for pizza lovers from across the globe who pilgrimage to Little Italy to experience where it began. Despite food-fad, trendier pizzerias surrounding the block, Lombardi’s maintains an old-school ambiance that gives pizza lovers a glimpse of the past.
The First Italian Pizzas Were Square In Shape.
One of the crazy facts about pizza is that initially, pizzas in Italy were square in shape, especially across the island of Sicily in the regions of Palermo, Catania, Messina, and Siracusa. The pizza was prepared in traditional Sicilian style and was called sfinciuni in Sicilian and sfincione in Italian, loosely translated to ‘thick sponge’ in English.
The sfincione likely evolved from the much older focaccia, Italian yeast bread baked in flat sheet pans. The Sicilian pizza features a spongy, fluffy bread base topped with meatless sauces made from onions, tomatoes, anchovies, and herbs and baked in a square tray.
Traditionally, it did not use any mozzarella because milk in Sicily only came from goats and sheep. Sicilian immigrants brought Sicilian-style pizza to the United States, and to support the spongy crust, they used rectangular or square-shaped pans.
The Detroit-style pizza descended from the Sicilian pizza. In New York and other US areas, what is known today as the Sicilian cut maintains the same thick square base but now features mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce toppings. It has a devoted following across north-eastern states, and in coastal areas, it’s known as beach pizza because it’s perfect for picnics on the sand.
World War II made pizza popular in America
Although pizza had already found its way to America by World War II, it was mostly an ethnic affair as most pizzerias were frequented mainly by Italian immigrants. It was only after World War II that pizza entered the American mainstream.
After the war, American soldiers who occupied Italy returned home with love for focaccia and pizza. Their hunger for the savory, gooey Italian bread they’d grown accustomed to led to a much bigger market for pizza than ever before. They asked for it everywhere they went.
Restaurant owners must have been confused at first, but they soon caught on as countless variations emerged to reflect local tastes. The American pizza had, at last, crossed the boundary of the country’s Italian American communities and was now a fun fast food in line with the new post-war lifestyle of Americans.
After World War II, second-hand inexpensive military surplus mixers arrived on the market together with easy and affordable commercial gas ovens, further propelling the popularity of pizza in America.
The United States eats 350 slices of pizza every second
Pizza surpasses all other fast foods as America’s favorite, and the figures are staggering. According to the National Association of Pizza Operators (NAPO), 100 acres of pizza are served daily in the US. Estimates show that 350 slices of pizza are eaten in the US every second. This translates to 21,000 pieces per minute, 1.26 million every hour, and 30 million every day.
America is responsible for around a third of the global pizza consumption, and 3 billion pizzas are downed by Americans annually. In terms of weight, the average American eats 23 pounds of pizza each year.
A nationwide survey of 1,000 US adults found that many consumers begin their lifelong pizza devotion at pre-school age. One in three people in the US eats pizza at least once a week, one in ten eat three slices three times a week, while the die-hards eat up to 15 pieces per month. The survey concluded that the average American eats upwards of 6,000 slices of pizza in their lifetime.
During the Super Bowl, over 2 million Pizza Hut pizzas are sold.
In 2018, Pizza Hut became the official National Football League (NFL) sponsor, taking over Papa John’s eight-year reign. During the Super Bowl, over 2 million Pizza Hut pizzas are sold. The Super Bowl is the NFL championship’s annual game. From 2004, it’s been played on February’s first Sunday, but it’s now played on the second Sunday. Although it’s not listed on any calendar, Super Bowl Sunday is an unofficial holiday in the US. Food indulgence is higher on Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day except Thanksgiving.
The Super Bowl is easily the most-watched program in America and second most-watched worldwide. Many people get together across big screens for Super Bowl Sunday. With pizza being a favorite football food and pizza commercials being seen by millions and millions, it’s no surprise that millions of pizzas are sold every Super Bowl Sunday.
With Pizza Hut as the official sponsor, it hosts a series of ingenious game-day promotions that keep the brand front and center during one of the most significant annual sporting events. The chief brand officer for Pizza Hut, Marriane Radley, describes it as the biggest day of the year for Pizza Hut.
Pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping
Pepperoni ranks high among pizza toppings in America. While the pizza may have come from Italy, pepperoni is an entirely American concept. In Italy, ‘peperoni’ refers to a large pepper, but in America, pepperoni refers to a cured dry sausage similar to the spicy Italian salami.
If you came from Italy, you’d be surprised as to why people are excited about a pepper-topped pizza, but of course, they’re not – it’s all about the sausage. Peppers are only part of the spices of the greasy, spicy, crisp-edged wonder making up the dried sausage of mixed beef and pork.
Pepperoni is the default setting in American pizzas, and it dots the top of more than a third of the pizzas sold in the US. All advertisements on TV, artistic renderings, and pizza emojis come with big red circles representing pepperoni.
It’s no surprise that when a poll of over 6,000 US adults was asked about their most liked pizza toppings, the favorite was pepperoni. Around 64% or two-thirds of Americans love this topping, while other popular additions include the sausage, onions, extra cheese, and mushrooms.
Every year, Americans consume 251.7 million pounds of pepperoni.
Every year in the United States, 251.7 million pounds of pepperoni are consumed solely from pizza
This pizza fact is so crazy it had to get its very own subheading. With 251.7 million pounds of pepperoni consumed every year in the US from pizza alone, it has become a vital topping for today’s pizza businesses.
Every year, Dominos alone goes through over 29 million pounds of pepperoni. According to Pizza Hut, over 75% of one-topping pizzas sold on Super Bowl Sunday are pepperoni. Assuming they sell only 2 million pizzas, this represents 1.5 million pepperoni pizzas in a day.
More than a third or 36% of all pizza orders in America are for pepperoni. Americans are more than twice as likely to choose it over the next most popular option, with 80% of the US saying pepperoni with pizza is the perfect match like peanut butter with jelly.
Anchovies are the least favorite pizza topping in America
A YouGov survey of 6,168 US adults in February 2021 sought to find out the most disliked pizza toppings and anchovies were on top at 61%. Eggplants then followed it at 52%, artichoke at 44%, and broccoli at 39%. The pineapple was also among the topmost disliked toppings at 35%.
Anchovies refer to a kind of fish, a member of the herring family, and that alone is a good reason why they repulse most Americans on their pizza. They’re usually one to four inches long and bear a very salty taste. However, they don’t tend to carry a fishy flavor.
Anchovies have a long-standing history and have been a staple in different cuisines worldwide since the 16th Century. Despite this, they’re not very popular as a pizza topping today. They’re more of an acquired taste, and those who do love them enjoy the saltiness they add to the pizza. Most pizza shops only offer them as an option based on tradition alone.
The First Cities In The United States to Sell Pizza
Pizza’s first appearance in the US was in the late 19th Century, thanks to the arrival of Italian immigrants. The first cities in the United States to sell pizza included New York, Philadelphia, Trenton, and Chicago, where large Italian populations had settled.
Credited as the first pizza restaurant in America, Lombardi’s opened in 1905 at Spring Street in New York. Joe’s Tomato Pies brought pizza to the Trenton New Jersey area in 1910, and Papa’s Tomato Pies soon followed in 1912.
In the 1920s, Salvatore Marra arrived in Philadelphia, took over a former butcher shop storefront in South Philly, built a huge brick oven, and opened Marra’s Cucina Italiana in 1927. The pizza restaurant has never closed for the past 94 years.
The first verified pizza restaurant in Chicago was opened in 1924 by Tom Granato on Taylor Street. Tom Granato’s Pizzeria Napolitana made wedge cut thin crust pizza in a wood-fired oven, resembling a New York-style pizza.
The Neapolitan pizza standards are monitored by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana
The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), also known as the True Neapolitan Pizza Association, is a non-profit organization founded in 1984. Its mission involves protecting and promoting authentic Neapolitan pizza in Italy and across the world.
The Neapolitan pizza standards monitored by the AVPN are fundamental rules that help recognize and differentiate the True Neapolitan Pizza from other types of pizza. According to the standards, after cooking a True Neapolitan Pizza in a wood-fired oven, it should be.
- Roundish with a maximum of 35 cm.
- Present a raised edge (‘cornicione’) free from burns, swollen, and 1-2 cm.
- Fragrant and soft.
Ingredients needed include only salt, water, yeast, and flour. They’re mixed starting with water and ensuring direct contact between yeast and salt doesn’t occur for over 5 minutes. When leaving the dough to rest, you should cover it with a damp cloth. It’s cooked exclusively in wood-fired ovens for 60 to 90 seconds in temperatures that have reached 430-480 degrees Celsius.
The Most Expensive Pizza In The World Costs $12,000
The most expensive pizza in the world costs a whopping $12,000 and is called the Louis XIII. It measures 20cm and is named after a 17th Century French Monarch. The Louis XIII was created by the pizza chef Renato Viola and was initially served to a select crowd in Salerno, Italy. You can still order the pizza, but you have to reside in the coastal city of Salerno. It takes over 72 hours to make, and no compromises are made regarding the ingredients.
The pizza is topped with three types of caviar which are all very expensive and rare. It also includes Australian pink salt from the Murray River, seven cheese varieties, including organic buffalo mozzarella, mantis shrimp, prawns from Cilento, and lobster from Norway.
When you order the pizza, you also get a Louis XIII cognac tasting, a Carta Real Sanches Romate Finos brandy, and a Champagne Krug Clos du Mesnil 1995 as part of the first-class experience.
The world’s largest pizza
The world’s largest pizza was prepared on December 13, 2012, covering a surface area of over 13,580 square feet. The pizza named Ottavai still holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest round pizza. The cheesy monstrosity was put together by a pizza chain mogul Dovillo Nardi and Marco Nardi, Andrea Mannocchi, Matteo Giannotte, and Matteo Nardi in Rome, Italy. It was around the size of one and a half baseball fields, stretching over 130 feet across.
The pizza was made with:
- 19,800 pounds of flour.
- 8,800 pounds of Mozzarella cheese.
- 10,000 pounds of tomato sauce.
- 1,488 pounds of margarine.
- 551 pounds of salt.
- 220 pounds of lettuce.
- 55 pounds of vinegar.
It all created a 51,257-pound pizza, and the dough needed to be baked in around 5,000 batches over 48 hours. It was 100% gluten-free.
Mozzarella Cheese Has Been Confirmed To Be The Best Pizza Cheese
Mozzarella cheese has been confirmed to be the best pizza cheese, thanks to a scientific study carried out in 2014. The study aimed to quantify the performance and pizza baking properties of different cheeses.
Mozzarella cheese was found to bubble, melt, and brown better than any other cheese. Researchers compared pizzas using cheddar, mozzarella, Gruyere, and Edam cheese through software specifically designed to measure blistering, browning, and oil.
They found that mozzarella was stretchier than any other cheese, allowing bigger bubbles to form when water evaporated from the pizza. And because mozzarella isn’t filled with moisture or as oily as different cheeses, it turned brown more easily.
These factors combined make mozzarella appealing to both the taste buds and the eyes.
October is National Pizza Month in the United States
One common fact about pizza is that every month is national pizza month for pizza people, but October is a point of distinction in the United States. The national pizza month was first observed in 1984 and was designated by Gerry Durnell, the founder of Pizza Today magazine.
October marks the debut of the first issue of Pizza Today magazine, which was the first national pizza-oriented magazine. The idea of a national pizza month took hold, and in 1987, the US Congress officially designated October as National Pizza Month.
The day is observed across most of the US, and it provides the perfect excuse to over-indulge in the most delicious way possible.
A Greek living in Canada created the Hawaiian pizza
Torn between loving it or hating it, very few people know this pizza fact. A Greek living in Canada created the Hawaiian Pizza and set off one of the biggest debates in food. The gastronomic innovation is credited to Sam Panopoulos, born in Greece before he moved to Canada in 1954 at the age of 20. By the 1960s, he had opened a small chain of restaurants in Ontario with his brothers. Like most pizza toppings, the Hawaiian Pizza would result from an experiment.
Being young in the business, they were doing lots of experiments. They curiously decided to put canned pineapple on a pizza to discover how it would taste. Sam and his brothers were delighted by the contrast between the pineapple’s sweetness and the ham’s savory flavor.
They passed it to some of their customers, and it didn’t take long before people were going crazy about it, so they put it on the menu. The pizza was dubbed ‘Hawaiian’ after the canned pineapple brand they used.
The Longest Pizza Delivery Was From Cape Town, South Africa to Sydney, Australia
Another fantastic pizza fact is that the longest pizza delivery was from Cape Town, South Africa, to Sydney, Australia. Bernard Jordaan of Butler’s Pizza in Cape Town achieved this feat on March 22, 2001.
He hand-delivered the pizza to Corne Kirge, the captain of the Fedsure Stormers rugby team in Sydney. The distance covered was 11,042 km or 6,861 miles, setting the world record for the longest pizza delivery. The record was acknowledged in the Guinness World Records.
Corne Kirge had ordered the pizza from Cape Town to be delivered to his hotel room in Sydney, and Butler’s was committed to satisfying his craving.
A Pizza was delivered to the International Space Station, in 2001.
You don’t have to worry if you find yourself stuck in outer space and craving a pizza. Pizza Hut set a new delivery record in 2001 when it became the first company in the world to deliver a pizza to space.
The pizza was sent to Yuri Urachov, a Russian cosmonaut living on the International Space Station (ISS). The delivery took longer than the usual 30 minutes as the pizza aboard a Russian resupply rocket.
An obvious promotional stunt, the delivery cost Pizza Hut over $1 million and needed lots of special planning to pull it off. Because taste buds get dull in space, extra salt and spices were to season the pizza, and salami replaced pepperoni because of its shelf life.
Thin crust pizza is the most popular crust choice in the world
For the most part, thin-crust pizza is the most popular crust choice globally and the go-to choice for most pizza lovers. YouGov’s survey of 6,168 US adults in February 2021 also sought to determine the favorite style of pizza among respondents.
Thin crust pizza was the most preferred at 31%, while regular crust followed closely behind at 29%. In terms of location, the West and Midwest US residents prefer thin crust pizza at 32% and 34%, respectively, while the regular crust is more popular in the northeast at 34%. The thin crust and regular crust were both found to tie at 29% in the South.
Squid is the most popular pizza topping in Japan
Japan is home to some of the most exciting pizzas you can find, and they regularly feature what you’d consider very unusual toppings. Like many other countries, Japan puts its unique spin on pizza. One interesting fact about pizza in Japan is that squid is the most popular pizza topping. Japan is famous for its robust seafood cuisine, and the seafood culture has influenced pizza crafting to cater to local tastes. Squid pizza is a super favorite in Japan, including squid ink.
While in Japan, It’s not uncommon to see someone biting into a black pizza. You may think it’s burnt, but it’s squid ink topped with squid ink itself and combined with tomato sauce. What an exciting treat for the eyes and the taste buds.
Domino’s Pizza leads the market in delivery
Since 2019, Domino’s has been winning the pizza wars in delivery by taking 50% of the delivery market, with Pizza Hut and Papa Johns following behind at 29% and 21%, respectively. Domino’s is one the leading brands that popularized food deliveries and has won a reputation for speedy deliveries. It has maintained the strategy of going it alone for pizza deliveries instead of relying on third-party delivery services.
On a typical Super Bowl Sunday, Dominos sells over 2 million pizzas directly to customers. Domino’s Pizza drivers cover up to 4 million miles on a Super Bowl Sunday in the US alone.
Chicago is the birthplace of deep-dish pizza
The deep-dish pizza is an American-Italian version of pizza born in Chicago’s near northside neighborhood at a pizzeria known as Pizzeria Uno. The deep-dish pizza is notably different from the classical Neapolitan pizza.
It features a deeper dish, crunchier thicker crust, inverted layers, and richer, more abundant toppings. It usually comes with cheese at the bottom and a generous serving of tomato sauce on top. The deep-dish pizza is a Chicago-based icon, and, unlike any other, it’s more like a savory layer cake.
Pizza lovers still debate about the true inventor of deep-dish pizza. One side of the story claims Ike Sewell, who founded Pizzeria Uno, invented the recipe, and he wanted a different kind of pizza with more filling pies than the average pizza. The other side claims it was a former cook of Pizzeria Uno who created the recipe before Ike Sewell was ever in the picture.
Pizza Margherita isn’t exactly an Italian icon
According to legend, Pizza Margherita is the innovation of a local pizza chef called Raffaele Esposito in Naples in 1889. While touring Italy, Queen Margherita of Savoy and King Umberto visited Naples and wanted to try out the local specialties, having grown tired of a constant diet of French cuisine.
Esposito created three pizzas, the first with caciocavallo, lard, and basil, the second with cecenielli, and the third with mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. The Queen loved the third one the most, and it happened to have colors that match the Italian flag.
Esposito renamed the pizza in her honor, and from then on, that particular topping combination was called Pizza Margherita. However, historians have argued that this story is false based on two findings. The unification of Italy in 1889 was only by name, and it’s improbable that a Neapolitan baker would want to celebrate people who had come to conquer them.
Also, the supposed letter from the royals to Esposito was determined to be a fake, indicating that it was likely a lie to increase popularity
Tomato sauce may be beneficial to your immune system
One significant health benefit of tomato sauce is that it’s an excellent source of vitamin C, A, K. These all offer incredible benefits to your body. Vitamin C will help boost your immunity while preventing iron deficiency, lowering heart disease risk, managing high blood pressure, and ensuring you dint lose your memory.
Vitamin A also helps to boost your immunity while supporting skin health and vision. Tomato sauce also contains antioxidants and flavonoids, which can help in different complications, including depression, epilepsy, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and other immune system and inflammation conditions.
The Guinness World Record for the largest pizza was set in Italy in 2012
The Guinness World Record for the largest pizza globally was set in Rome, Italy, in 2012 by a team led by Dovillo Nardi. It was nicknamed Ottavio as a tribute to the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus. It covered a surface area of more than 13,580 square feet and stretched over 130 feet across, equivalent to the length of one and a half baseball fields.
Frozen pizzas arrived in grocery stores in 1962
In the 1940s and 1950s, a revolutionary invention that set the stage for frozen pizzas was take-and-bake pizzas. These were ready-to-cook pizzas that you could take home and prepare yourself.
Soon after the take and bake pizzas became widespread, technological advancements and an improved economy led to the increased availability of freezers in the 1950s. Everyone was eager to try out this new invention in every way they could. People were busier and disposable incomes were higher.
They could now afford convenience foods and fast foods, which were gaining popularity every day. Around this time, restaurants started making pizzas and freezing them for customers to cook at home. The first patent for a method to make frozen pizza was granted in 1954, and by 1962, Jim and Rose Totino were already mass-producing frozen pizzas. Frozen pizzas were now available on almost all grocery store shelves across the US
There is an annual pizza expo in Las Vegas
An international pizza expo that celebrates pizza and the pizza industry on a massive scale takes over the Las Vegas Convention Center every year. The pizza expo has it all, including pizza acrobatics, dough tossing competitions, box folding trials, and some serious pizza business.
The pizza acrobatics are the ultimate showstoppers of the event as they impressively toss and catch dough mid-air as it stretches and compresses in a fast-paced choreographed routine. It also attracts numerous pizzeria owners looking for any possible improvement to take home and implement in their businesses. A typical attendee is a small entrepreneur with 1 to 3 pizzerias.
These are people looking for sourcing ingredients, digital strategies, and the latest advancements in the pizza industry. The pizza expo is massive in scale. It draws in around 10,000 pizza professionals from over 60 different countries worldwide. Courting the attending is approximately 1,000 exhibitors trying to convince pizzeria owners to try what they’re offering, from mozzarella to red pepper, dough, and many more.
In 2013, Domino’s made DVDs that smelled like pizza
In a marketing stunt that aimed to encourage people to associate movie time with pizza time, Dominos Brazil teamed up with video rental stores to turn popular DVDs into inedible pizzas. Dominos used custom disk labels with thermal ink to enable the DVDs to smell like pizza. The labels were dark gray and bland and featured nothing more than a movie’s title on top.
However, spinning in your DVD player activated the thermal ink and enabled the marketing magic. The DVD would come out looking and smelling like a Domino’s fresh from the oven pizza. It also included a written message asking whether you enjoyed the movie and stating that the next one will be better with a Domino’s pizza.
Saturday night is the most popular night to eat pizza
After a week filled with work and exhaustion, the weekend is viewed by everyone as a time to let loose and relax, and there’s no better way to relax than with a few slices of delicious gooeyness.
Pizza sales statistics show that Saturday night is the most popular night to eat pizza, and it’s associated with the need to unwind and indulge. Even those who enforce strict dietary rules on weekdays get a little lax on weekends, so don’t feel guilty if you’ve been sneaking a few slices on Saturdays.
Nutrition experts also point out that weekend dietary intakes are different from weekdays for both adults and kids. The weekend calls for more celebration food, and there’s a high likelihood that there’s a birthday party somewhere, a pool party, or a family get-together. Saturday also features more sports events and games on TV, and there’s no better companion for a football game than pizza.
Frequently asked pizza facts
Who Made The First Pizza?
Depending on who you ask and your definition of pizza, the answers can be varied. If you define pizza as a flatbread with toppings, the first pizza can be traced back to the 6th Century BC or even further when baking was invented.
Early civilizations, including the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Israelites, all baked flatbread in mud ovens. They would then add some of their favorite toppings on top, including herbs, spices, and olive oil. The modern-day pizza we know of today can be traced to Naples, Italy, where tomatoes were added to the flatbread for the first time. Ironically, it wasn’t as celebrated as it is today.
It was shunned and considered a low-level disgusting meal only fit for the poor.
