11 Amazing Facts About Pizza You Must Read
Many people have a basic understanding of the origin of pizza and its ingredients. Yet few people know the most popular toppings in countries worldwide or where to find the oldest pizzeria.
There is more to pizza than dough, tomato sauce, and cheese. It doesn’t matter if you love a thin and crispy, thick crust, or Chicago-style; you cannot call yourself a true fan of pizza until you know its history.
Here are 11 amazing facts about pizza that you must read.
1. The Oldest Pizzeria Opened in 1738
The oldest pizzeria in the world, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba, opened in 1738 in Naples, Italy, and continues to serve delicious slices to this day.
The family-owned restaurant, which specialises in Neapolitan cuisine, started out as a factory, creating flatbreads using heated stones from Mount Vesuvius.
The flatbreads were produced for street vendors to sell to affluent residents across Naples, and were topped with cheese, whitebait fish, sheep’s milk, and anchovies.
Thanks to the factory’s success, it transitioned into a dine-in restaurant in 1830, becoming the first pizzeria in the world.
2. You Can Buy a €10,390 Pizza in Italy
If you love a slice and have a spare €10,390 (£8,979/$12,000) in the bank, you could always buy the Louis XIII pizza in Salerno, Italy.
Created by chef Renato Viola, it is the most expensive pizza in the world due to its cooking process and the quality of its ingredients.
The pizza dough preparation time reportedly takes 72 hours, and features high-end ingredients and toppings, such as Norwegian lobster, pink Australian sea salt, organic buffalo mozzarella, and three types of caviar.
The luxury pizza is also served with champagne and a rare cognac.
3. The Concept of Pizza May Have Started in Greece
Italy is famously the proud home of pizza, but many believe Greece is responsible for its concept.
Greek citizens made a flatbread during the 5th century, known as plakous, which was topped with cheese, onions, olive oil, garlic, and herbs. It was then baked in a mud oven.
Plakous made its way to Italy when Naples became a Greek colony during the 8th Century, with locals retaining Greek culture, manners, and cuisine.
4. Deep-Fried Pizza is on the Menu in Scotland
Scotland is well-known for its love of fried foods, as one of its most iconic dishes is, of course, the deep-fried Mars bar.
Yet you might not realise that deep-fried pizza is on the menu at many chippies across the country.
It’s often served with chips, and you can even opt for a pizza crunch, which is a battered half pizza or a deep-fried slice.
5. Pizza Deliveries Were Used to Predict US Military Moves
Frank Meeks, a Domino’s franchisee in Washington, reached out to the Los Angeles Times in 1990 to highlight a recent observation about pizza deliveries to various U.S. government buildings, including the White House, Pentagon, and CIA.
He found that on 1st August 1990, the CIA ordered a record-breaking 21 pizzas, and the next day Iraq invaded Kuwait, kickstarting the Gulf War.
At the time, he believed the pizza deliveries were a coincidence until he spotted a sudden increase in deliveries during the impeachment hearings of Bill Clinton in 1998.
Due to his observations, CNN’s Pentagon correspondent, Wolf Blitzer, commented, “Bottom line for journalists: Always monitor the pizzas.”
The observations have since been coined the Pentagon Pizza Theory and Pizza Meter. As a result, the White House deliberately placed pizza orders at multiple restaurants during Operation Neptune Spear in 2011, which led to Osama bin Laden’s death.
6. Pizza Hut Paid $1 Million to Deliver a Pizza to Space
Pizza Hut made its most expensive delivery in 2001. The popular franchise paid the Russian Space Agency an incredible $1 million to send a six-inch salami pizza straight to the International Space Station.
It’s believed that Pizza Hut added extra seasonings due to microgravity dulling astronauts’ taste buds. Also, it swapped pepperoni for salami to protect the pizza’s shelf life during the journey.
7. Cambodia is Home to Cannabis-Topped Pizza
Cambodia is home to Happy Pizza, which is made from cannabis-infused ingredients that’ll give you a high.
The pizza slices reportedly include enough THC to provide psychoactive effects. Also, you can buy it in many popular restaurants in various Cambodian cities, including Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.
If you’re visiting Cambodia soon and want to try it, you can ask for a happy pizza or request a chef to make your pizza “extra happy.”
It might look like a typical pizza when it arrives on your table, but you can trust it’s infused with cannabis leaves to provide a tasty yet trippy experience.
8. A 1,001-Cheese Pizza Was Created in 2023
In 2023, French chefs Fabien Montellanico and Benoît Bruel set a Guinness World Record for the most varieties of cheese on a pizza.
The culinary duo created a 1,001-cheese pizza with help from YouTube star Florian OnAir and cheesemaker Sophie Hata Richart-Luna.
The multi-cheese pizza beat the record set by Morgan Niquet, who made an 834-cheese pizza in 2021.
It isn’t the first time Benoît Bruel has set the record, as he created a 254-cheese pizza in 2020.
Eager to reclaim his title from Niquet, Bruel and Montellanico travelled across France for five months to source many varieties of cheese to secure a new Guinness World Record.
9. Japan Has Some Unusually Popular Pizza Toppings
Pizza may look and taste a little different in Japan, as it’s home to many unusual toppings that are popular among locals.
Many slices often provide a perfect balance of savoury umami that work in harmony with a sweet yet rich flavour and subtle seasoning.
If you’re traveling to Japan soon, you must try the mentaiko mayonnaise pizza, as the dough is topped with a spicy cod roe sourced from Hakata with a creamy mayonnaise. It offers a smooth yet salty flavour that complements melted cheese.
Alternatively, treat yourself to one of Japan’s most popular pizza toppings: teriyaki chicken. It pairs beautifully with cheese and mayonnaise and has a sweet yet savoury taste.
More unusual options include mochi and seaweed pizza, or corn and mayonnaise. Japan’s pizza toppings often reflect the seasons, as you could enjoy Sakura shrimp in spring, tomato and basil in summer, mushrooms and chestnuts in autumn, and oysters and gratin in winter.
10. May 22 is Bitcoin Pizza Day
Bitcoin Pizza Day is annually celebrated on May 22, which is the anniversary of the day Laszlo Hanyecz from Florida paid for two Papa John’s pizzas with 10,000 BTC in May 2010.
It was the first commercial Bitcoin transaction in the world, and the sum would now be worth millions in modern money.
Hanyecz requested help to buy a pizza on the Bitcoin Talk forum, writing, “I’ll pay 10,000 bitcoins for a couple of pizzas … like maybe 2 large ones so I have some left over for the next day. I like having leftover pizza to nibble on later.”
“You can make the pizza yourself and bring it to my house or order it for me from a delivery place, but what I’m aiming for is getting food delivered in exchange for bitcoins where I don’t have to order or prepare it myself, kind of like ordering a ‘breakfast platter’ at a hotel or something, they just bring you something to eat and you’re happy!”
A British man was happy to help, delivering two pizzas to Hanyecz for 10,000 Bitcoin, which was roughly worth $41 in 2010.
Cut to 2015 and 10,000 Bitcoin was worth a whopping $2.4 million, which is approximately $1.5 million here in the UK.
11. Banana Curry Pizza is a Popular Choice in Sweden
Do you love bananas? Maybe you love nothing more than a good curry? If so, you might need to jump onto a plane to Sweden to sample its famous banana curry pizza.
Many Swedish pizzerias have this pizza on their menus, which is a big hit with locals nationwide.
While there is little record of when banana curry pizza first arrived on the menu in Sweden, many suspect it was created due to the nation’s fascination with Polynesian cuisine during the 1960s and 1970s.
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