1. Pizza was originally square
We all love the look of a round pizza, but the very first pizzas were actually a square or a rectangle! Made from traditional flatbread in Italy, these pizzas were topped with simple local ingredients. They were popular with working class people in the waterfront city of Naples because they were cheap to make and filled you up.
2. You can visit a pizza museum
The Museum of Pizza in Philadelphia has the largest collection of pizza-related memorabilia in the world.
3. Pizza is over 500 years old
Pizza is one of the oldest dishes still around today, and you can even make and enjoy pizza that is very similar to what the Italians would have eaten 500 years ago. That version more closely resembles the focaccia we eat today. It was created by Neapolitans, or the locals of Naples, as an easy and inexpensive street food that would be topped with various local ingredients and eaten on the go.
4. Pizza has been delivered in space
In 2001, a pizza was delivered to the International Space Station via a resupply rocket. It was eaten by Russian astronaut Yuri Usachov.
5. There is a maths theorem named after pizza
In elementary geometry, the pizza theorem states the equality of two areas that arise when one partitions a disk in a certain way. If you don’t know what this means, don’t worry – neither do we!
6. The Hawaiian pizza is actually from Canada
The pineapple topped pizza isn’t from the islands of Hawaii at all – it was actually developed by a chef in Canada who gave the dish its tropical name.
7. The biggest pizza ever is more than 1,200 square metres in size
The Guinness World Record for the largest pizza was achieved in January 2023 in Los Angeles.
8. NASA can 3D print a pizza
To avoid their astronauts having nothing but freeze-fried space food to eat, NASA has funded a grant for a Silicon Valley start up to create a pre-programmed robot which 3D prints an edible pizza. The technology might even be adopted for use on Earth as well… but we know we’d prefer the real thing!
9. 9th February is World Pizza Day
Make sure you order a pizza for World Pizza Day! This dish is universally loved, which is why there’s a globally recognised day to enjoy it!
10. Margherita pizza was named after Queen Margherita
The Queen visited Naples in 1889, when pizza was just a simple dish eaten by locals. She tried the dish and fell in love with how light and delicious it was, which was so different to the rich French-style cuisine enjoyed in European courts at the time. Margherita pizza was created in Queen Margherita’s honour and features and the colours of the Italian flag: red tomato, white mozzarella and green basil.
