February 9: National Pizza Day

Today is National Pizza Day. Here are some things you might not know about pizza:

1. The word "pizza" may originate from the same root as the Greek pitta bread; another theory is that it was a Lombardic word, bizzo or pizzo meaning "mouthful". The word was first written down in Italy in the year 997 as part of a tenancy agreement. The tenant was required to give the bishop of Gaeta duodecim pizze ("twelve pizzas") every Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.
2. While pizza is associated with Italy, it was the ancient Greeks who first had the idea of baking round, flat breads and putting toppings on them.
3. Pizza as we know it began to appear in Italy in the 18th century. Back then, pizzas had no toppings - they were round, flat breads eaten by poor people in Naples. Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, observed that poor people in Naples ate nothing but watermelon in summer and pizza in winter.
4. One of the most popular varieties of pizza is the Margherita. According to legend, it was named for the Italian Queen Margherita, who, while on a tour of her kingdom, noticed the peasants eating large, round slices of bread and asked if she could try it. She loved it, and would eat it whenever she could, although her courtiers were dismayed at her eating peasant food. Eventually, she got her personal chef to make pizza with a topping. He chose ingredients which represented the colours of the Italian Flag - fresh basil, Mozzarella Cheese and Tomatoes. Word that this was one of her majesty's favourite dishes soon spread and it ended up with her name.
5. Americans are huge consumers of pizza, eating it at least once a week on average, and especially on holidays like Halloween and on Superbowl Sunday. 17% of the restaurants in the USA are pizza places. However, before the Second World War it was really only Italian immigrants who ate pizza. It became mainstream after soldiers stationed in Italy during the war developed a taste for it and started eating it back home.
6. Domino's Pizza used to have a guarantee to get your pizza to you within 30 minutes, but in America, that no longer applies because it meant pizza delivery people were apt to drive dangerously in order to fulfill the promise. While they may no longer be allowed to go fast, they will go far on occasion. In 2004, Lucy Clough of Domino’s Pizza traveled 10,532 miles from London, England to Melbourne, Australia to deliver a pizza, breaking the world record for the longest pizza delivery on Earth. It will be hard to beat Pizza Hut's 2001 feat when they delivered pizza to the International Space Station.
7. The world's largest pizza was made in Rome in 2012. It measured 1,261 square meters (13,570 square feet), and was made with a gluten-free base. The world's longest pizza was made in Fontana, California in 2017 and measured 1,930.39 meters (6,333.3 feet).
8. The most expensive pizza is the "Pizza Royale 007" produced by a restaurant in Glasgow. It has a topping with ingredients such as Caviar, Lobster and 24-carat Gold dust, which would set you back £4,200.
9. Pizza is often dismissed as a completely unhealthy food because of its fat, carbohydrate and salt content, but studies in Italy have actually found that people who eat a lot of pizza have a relatively low incidence of cardiovascular disease and digestive tract cancers. This may be because in Italy, pizza toppings are based on the more healthy Mediterranean diet. Some scientists reckon that the benefit comes from a chemical called lycopene in pizza sauce.
10. Professional pizza chefs always spin the dough as the make pizza, because it helps spread the dough evenly, create a uniform crust, and helps the dough retain moisture. Dough spinning has become almost a sport in itself - there's an annual event called the World Pizza Championships at which acrobatic dough-spinning is a regular event.

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