120 Fun Facts About Pizza

Which crooner's 1953 hit 'That's Amore' compares the moon to 'a big pizza pie'?

Dean Martin first sang it in the 1953 comedy The Caddy after partner Jerry Lewis, by his own account, quietly asked the songwriters for a hit to give Dean more to do; it became a signature tune.

Which Neapolitan pizza's toppings match the three colours of the Italian flag?

Margherita: legend has Raffaele Esposito creating it for Queen Margherita in 1889, but the EU's own specification dates the tomato, mozzarella and basil pizza to 1796-1810, long before her visit.

Under the EU's Pizza Napoletana rules, how must the dough be stretched into a disc?

By hand alone: the pizzaiolo works from the centre outwards with the fingers of both hands, and the rules ban the rolling pin and the mechanical press by name.

St. Louis-style pizza is traditionally sliced in which way, known locally as a party cut?

Into small squares: the rigid, cracker-like crust is cut into three- or four-inch tiles, a habit often linked, perhaps fancifully, to Imo's founder Ed Imo, who set tiles by day.

On an Italian pizza menu, what topping is 'carciofi'?

Artichokes: carciofi go on a pizza as marinated hearts, and Roman Jewish cooks made them famous by deep-frying them whole, a dish called carciofi alla giudia.

Pepperoni is a spicy cured sausage seasoned chiefly with chili peppers and which other spice?

Paprika, rather than black pepper, flavours most pepperoni, a soft, fine-grained and slightly smoky sausage, bright red like the spicy sausages of southern Italy that it resembles.

James Monaghan swapped his half of the future Domino's to brother Tom for which delivery vehicle?

Volkswagen Beetle: the car the brothers used for deliveries was Jim's price for leaving the DomiNick's shop they had taken over in 1960, because he would not give up his job as a postman.

Which chain, whose slogan shouts 'Pizza!' twice, was founded in Garden City, Michigan, in 1959?

Little Caesars' doubled slogan advertised its signature deal: two pizzas for the price of one.

The 1980s 'Pizza Connection' trial convicted Mafia members of using pizzerias as fronts to distribute what?

Heroin worth well over a billion dollars reached American streets through pizza parlours the Sicilian Mafia used as fronts, and a trial lasting some 17 months ended in 1987 with 18 convictions.

St. Louis-style pizza's defining cheese, a processed blend with a low melting point and a gooey texture, is called what?

Provel is a processed blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone, reportedly devised by a St. Louis grocer for pizzerias that wanted a cheese that melts well yet breaks off cleanly at the bite.

Pissaladière, a pizza-like tart of onions, anchovies and olives, is a speciality of which French city?

Nice: the onions are stewed slowly in oil until soft before they are spread over the dough, and the anchovies and olives go on top.

Tomatoes, now essential to pizza, reached Europe only in the 1500s from which part of the world?

The Americas: Spanish ships brought the tomato over, but elsewhere in Europe it was long grown as an ornament and suspected of being poisonous, so tomato-topped pizza came much later.

What is the name for the puffy, raised edge of an authentic Neapolitan pizza crust?

Cornicione forms because the dough is pressed from the centre outwards, leaving a thicker edge that swells in the oven to 1 to 2 cm, the height both the EU and AVPN rules set.

In 2011 Congress blocked a rule change, so school pizza's tomato paste kept counting as a serving of what?

Vegetables: the USDA wanted half a cup of tomato paste before a slice could count, frozen-food makers lobbied against it, and Congress kept the old rule that two tablespoons was enough.

A true Neapolitan pizza bakes in its wood-fired oven for no more than about how long?

90 seconds is the ceiling: the rules set the bake at 60 to 90 seconds because the oven floor runs at about 485°C, and the pizza must come out still soft enough to fold into four.

Which part of Neapolitan pizza culture did UNESCO add to its intangible heritage list in 2017?

The pizzaiuolo's craft: UNESCO listed the art of Naples' pizza makers, from working and spinning the dough to baking it, a skill apprentices learn by watching masters in the workshop.

Which Italian region is the traditional home of San Marzano tomatoes?

Campania: San Marzano tomatoes are prized as sweeter and less acidic than other plum tomatoes, and only fruit grown in the Sarno valley, between Naples and Salerno, may be sold under the protected name.

In a pizzeria, what job does the long-handled 'peel' do?

Loads the oven: the peel is a baker's shovel, and under the EU's Neapolitan rules the pizzaiolo slides the raw pie in with a flick of the wrist and lifts it out again on a metal one.

Which cheese, alongside fior di latte, may top a true Neapolitan pizza under the Naples pizza association's rules?

Mozzarella di bufala campana is made from water-buffalo milk, richer in fat and protein than cow's milk; the association's recipe has it sliced and spread evenly, while fior di latte goes on in strips.

A 997 document from Gaeta, the earliest known use of the word 'pizza', has a tenant owing twelve pizzas to whom?

The bishop of Gaeta was owed twelve pizzas every Christmas Day and twelve more at Easter, along with pork and chickens, as rent on a property.

A pizza 'quattro stagioni' is divided into four sections representing what?

The seasons of the year: each quarter gets one topping chosen to stand for its season, such as mushrooms for autumn, whereas a capricciosa scatters the same ingredients across the whole pizza.

Julia Roberts's character falls for the pizza at Naples' Da Michele in which film?

Eat Pray Love follows writer Liz Gilbert through Italy, India and Bali as she rebuilds her life after a divorce, and its pizza scene was shot on location in Naples.

Which country's president joked in 2017 that he would ban pineapple on pizza if he could?

Iceland: President Guðni Jóhannesson made the off-the-cuff remark to a group of high-school pupils, and it set off a flurry of news coverage and pineapple arguments around the world.

Sam Panopoulos named the Hawaiian pizza he created in Ontario in 1962 after what?

A pineapple brand: Panopoulos tipped the tinned fruit onto a pizza at his Satellite Restaurant 'just for the fun of it', and the name came straight off the can.

Pizza marinara, which carries neither seafood nor cheese, takes its name from which group of people?

Sailors: 'alla marinara' means sailor-style, and tradition has it that seafarers favoured the topping of tomato, garlic and herbs because its ingredients kept well on a voyage.

Which film opens with John Travolta strutting down a Brooklyn street eating two stacked pizza slices?

Saturday Night Fever has Tony Manero order two slices at Lenny's Pizza and eat them stacked as he walks; the Brooklyn shop later sold a double-decker slice in Travolta's honour.

Which folded, half-moon pizza takes its name from the Italian for 'trouser leg'?

Calzone literally means 'trouser leg', a name given for the resemblance; it is folded once into a crescent and sealed, whereas the stromboli it is often confused with is rolled.

The term "pizza al taglio" refers to what style of pizza?

Rectangular slices sold by weight: pizza al taglio is baked in big trays and cut to whatever size the buyer asks for, then priced by the kilo or per 100 grams.

Which small turnover from Puglia, stuffed like a pizza with tomato and mozzarella, is fried rather than baked?

Panzerotto: the name is usually traced to panza, a regional word for belly, after the way the sealed half-moon of dough swells up in the hot oil.

Pizza Hut's 2001 delivery to the International Space Station was topped with which meat, since pepperoni wouldn't keep?

Salami was chosen because pepperoni failed the shelf-life tests; cosmonaut Yuri Usachov ate the extra-salted pie in orbit, part of a promotion that cost the chain about $1 million.

Which ancient civilization made the plakous, a topped flatbread seen as a pizza precursor?

Greeks. Plakous was a Greek flatbread baked with toppings such as herbs, onion, garlic and cheese; the Romans took it up as placenta, a layered cake of dough, cheese and honey described by Cato.

Domino's scrapped its famous 30-minute delivery guarantee in the US in 1993 after what?

A jury award over a crash: a woman hit by a driver who ran a red light was awarded nearly $80 million, and the company dropped the promise that year, citing a public perception of reckless driving.

Roman bakeries sell a tomato-free flatbread, closer to focaccia, as 'pizza' what?

Pizza bianca means white pizza: with no tomato on top, the plain flatbread is split while still hot and filled like a sandwich, with Parmesan or rocket.

Which type of sauce is considered traditional for a classic Neapolitan pizza?

The sauce is never cooked at all. A Neapolitan pizza is dressed with hand-crushed peeled tomatoes, often San Marzano, seasoned with little more than salt before it goes into the oven.

What limited the name Pizza Hut's founders could give their first restaurant in 1958?

Its sign: the board out front of the first restaurant in Wichita had room for only eight letters, so the name had to be short, and 'Pizza Hut' used every space.

Which animated heroes' love of pizza became a running gag in their 1987 cartoon?

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all love pizza, but Michelangelo is the fanatic, forever testing topping combinations that even his three brothers find revolting.

What job does the small plastic tripod in the middle of a delivered pizza do?

Holds up the lid: Carmela Vitale patented it in 1985 under the name 'package saver', after too many box lids had drooped and stuck to the cheese on the way over.

On an Italian pizza menu, what meat is 'prosciutto'?

Ham: prosciutto goes back to a Latin word for 'dried out', a nod to the long salting and air-drying behind prosciutto crudo, while prosciutto cotto is simply cooked ham.

Which country's chip shops sell the 'pizza crunch', a half pizza dipped in batter and deep-fried?

Scotland: chippies there fry pizza much as they fry Mars bars and haggis, and a battered half served with chips is sold as a 'pizza crunch supper'.

How is lahmacun, the thin meat-topped flatbread nicknamed 'Turkish pizza', usually eaten?

Rolled around salad: the thin round is strewn with parsley, onion and a squeeze of lemon, then rolled up and eaten in the hand; unlike pizza, it traditionally carries no cheese.

Which grade of oil does the EU's Pizza Napoletana specification list among the six basic raw materials?

The EU's Pizza Napoletana specification lists extra virgin olive oil among the six basic raw materials, drizzled on in a spiral before baking.

Order a pizza with 'peperoni' in Italy and which topping will arrive?

Bell peppers: peperoni is simply the plural of peperone, the Italian for a pepper, and American English borrowed the word for a spicy sausage that Italians do not know by that name.

Besides the wheel, pizzerias slice pies with which long curved blade, rocked from side to side?

Mezzaluna: the half-moon blade is a kitchen herb chopper, rocked back and forth by a handle at each end, and pizzerias use a very large single-bladed version.

Lombardi's, long recognised as the first pizzeria in the United States, opened in 1905 where?

New York: Gennaro Lombardi long had the credit, but research published in 2019 found he arrived only in 1904, aged 17, and that baker Filippo Milone probably founded the Spring Street shop.

Which red-suited claymation troublemaker did Domino's adverts of the late 1980s urge viewers to 'avoid'?

The Noid, a schemer in a rabbit-like mask and red bodysuit, stood for everything that can ruin a delivered pizza, hence the slogan 'Avoid the Noid'; Will Vinton's studio animated him from 1986.

Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba, widely held to be the world's first pizzeria, lines its ovens with lava rock from which volcano?

Vesuvius supplied the lava that lines the ovens of Port'Alba, which opened in Naples in 1830; before it, street vendors carried hot pizza through the city in small tin stoves balanced on their heads.

Which Spike Lee film centres on Sal's Famous Pizzeria during a Brooklyn heatwave?

Do the Right Thing builds to the death of Radio Raheem in a police chokehold, after which Mookie, Sal's own delivery man, hurls a trash can through the window and the pizzeria burns.

Which future star played a Naples pizza seller in the 1954 film The Gold of Naples?

Sophia Loren's pizza seller tells her husband her ring fell into the dough, when she really left it with her lover, in 'Pizze a credito', pizza on credit, one of the Naples tales directed by Vittorio De Sica.

A 2023 fresco find appearing to show a pizza-like dish was made in which ancient city?

Pompeii. The fresco, uncovered in June 2023 in Regio IX, shows a round flatbread on a silver tray beside fruit and a goblet of wine; it is no true pizza, since tomatoes and mozzarella were unknown in 79 CE.

Fugazzeta, a thick onion-topped pizza stuffed with cheese, was born in which South American capital?

Buenos Aires: in the port district of La Boca, the Banchero family, bakers of Genoese stock, are credited with sealing cheese between two discs of dough and piling the onions on top.

Which British chain did Peter Boizot launch on Soho's Wardour Street in 1965?

PizzaExpress began after Boizot fell for pizza on a trip to Italy: he brought a pizza oven back from Italy and hired an Italian chef to work it.

Which horror game series makes the player a security guard at a pizzeria whose animatronic mascots roam after closing?

Five Nights at Freddy's began after players said the animal hero of Scott Cawthon's earlier family game looked like a scary animatronic; he turned the insult into his next idea.

New York's 'pizza principle' holds that a plain slice costs about the same as what?

A subway ride: Eric Bram spotted in 1980 that the two prices had moved together since the 1960s, and in 2002 a Times columnist used a dearer slice to predict a fare rise, which came the next year.

American square 'Sicilian pizza' derives from which Sicilian dish?

Sfincione, the thick sheet pizza of Palermo, crossed the Atlantic with the first Sicilian immigrants and grew thicker still as the square 'Sicilian slice' of American pizzerias.

Which Naples street food is a stuffed, sealed pizza that never goes near an oven?

Pizza fritta: frying in oil spared Naples street sellers the wood-fired oven a baked pizza needs, so the dough is sealed around its filling and dropped into hot oil instead.

In Home Alone, Kevin McCallister orders a cheese pizza from which pizzeria?

Little Nero's delivers Kevin's plain cheese pizza, and he scares the driver off the doorstep with gunfire from Angels with Filthy Souls, a fake gangster film shot specially for the movie.

In Toy Story, Woody and Buzz hitch a ride to which pizzeria, home of the claw machine?

Pizza Planet's delivery truck has been hidden in Pixar's features ever since, with one famous exception: The Incredibles (2004), whose director said he was too busy to add it.

Natural-casing pepperoni that curls in the oven is called what style?

Cup and char pepperoni curls into little cups with crisp, dark rims; big suppliers later engineered slices that lie flat, partly to stop pools of hot grease forming in the cups.

Which herb's popularity in the US soared after WWII, earning it the nickname 'the pizza herb'?

Oregano was a rarity in American kitchens until GIs who met it in southern Italy during World War II came home craving it, especially on pizza, and demand for the herb boomed.

What did the dots on Domino's original 1965 logo stand for?

Its stores at the time: the three dots on the 1965 logo stood for the three shops Domino's then had, and the plan to add a dot for every new store was quickly abandoned.

In which country did Domino's open its first store outside the United States, in 1983?

Canada: the Winnipeg store of May 1983 was the first step abroad; Britain and Japan followed in 1985, and within twelve years Domino's had 1,000 stores outside the United States.

In which city did Domino's open its first Italian store in 2015?

Milan. Domino's opened there in October 2015 through franchisee ePizza, which filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and closed its Italian stores, undone by local competition and delivery apps.

Which brothers founded Pizza Hut while students at Wichita State?

Dan and Frank Carney ran Pizza Hut for two decades, yet Frank later bought Papa John's franchises and told his old company in a rival ad, 'Sorry, guys. I found a better pizza.'

Which soft-drink giant acquired Pizza Hut in 1977?

PepsiCo bought Pizza Hut in 1977 as its first move into restaurants, then built a fast-food arm around it by adding Taco Bell in 1978 and KFC in 1986.

Who lent Pizza Hut's founders $600 to open their first restaurant?

Their mother lent the two brothers the $600 they needed to open in a small rented building in Wichita, Kansas, and a year later their first franchise opened in Topeka.

Which tycoon fronted Pizza Hut's 1995 Stuffed Crust launch advert?

Donald Trump fronted the launch advert with his ex-wife Ivana, and by the end of that year the cheese-filled crust had helped lift Pizza Hut's sales by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pizza Hut's celebrity adverts of 1995 showed stars eating their slices in what unusual way?

Backwards, crust first: the campaign launched Stuffed Crust, with cheese baked into the rim, and paired celebrities such as Ringo Starr and the Monkees eating from the edge inwards.

Which pizza chain was founded in Menlo Park, California, in 1959?

Round Table Pizza was named for the round table that furnished William Larson's first parlour in 1959; the knights and King Arthur theme only came later.

Little Caesars became the official pizza sponsor of which league in 2022?

NFL. Little Caesars became the NFL's official pizza sponsor in 2022, replacing Pizza Hut, which had taken the deal from Papa John's in 2018.

John Schnatter started Papa John's in 1984 by installing an oven where?

A broom closet in a tavern: Schnatter knocked out a broom closet in the back of Mick's Lounge, his father's bar in Jeffersonville, Indiana, installed a used oven and sold pizzas to the regulars.

In Breaking Bad, where does the pizza land when a furious Walter White hurls it away?

On the roof: Bryan Cranston landed it there in a single take, and so many fans later copied him at the real house that creator Vince Gilligan publicly asked them to stop.

How many bitcoins were paid for two Papa John's pizzas on 'Bitcoin Pizza Day' in 2010?

10,000 bitcoins, then worth about $41, went to a forum user who ordered Laszlo Hanyecz two Papa John's pizzas; by May 2021 the same coins were worth over $370 million.

Which star quarterback became a Papa John's franchisee in Denver in 2012?

Peyton Manning bought 21 Papa John's stores in Colorado in October 2012, his first season with the Broncos, and sold his stake in February 2018, weeks after the chain's founder quit as chief executive.

Which Atari founder created Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre?

Nolan Bushnell, who co-founded Atari in 1972, opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose in 1977 to sell pizza alongside his arcade games.

Chuck E. Cheese's original rat mascot began as a costume bought as what animal?

A coyote: the restaurant's working name was Coyote Pizza, and when the costume arrived as a rat the founder suggested Rick Rat's Pizza, until his marketers talked him into Chuck E. Cheese.

Which pizza chain began as an Italian immigrant couple's salumeria in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn?

Sbarro grew out of Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro's deli, where her pizza slices sold so well to passing shift workers that the family opened a pizza-only shop and moved into shopping malls.

Which future presidential candidate became CEO of Godfather's Pizza in 1986?

Herman Cain was a Burger King regional executive when Pillsbury sent him to rescue its ailing Godfather's Pizza in 1986; he later led a management buyout of the chain and ran for the 2012 Republican nomination.

Which signature pie did California Pizza Kitchen introduce and popularize?

BBQ Chicken came from Ed LaDou, the chef who wrote California Pizza Kitchen's first menu in 1985 and made his name with toppings then thought bizarre, such as duck breast with hoisin sauce.

What was the profession of California Pizza Kitchen founders Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax?

Attorneys: the pair met as federal prosecutors and ran a criminal-defence firm together before pooling loans, savings and friends' money to open their first restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Ed LaDou was the first pizza chef at which Wolfgang Puck restaurant?

Spago got its pizza chef when Wolfgang Puck, dining in San Francisco, was served Ed LaDou's off-menu pizza of ricotta, pâté, red peppers and mustard and offered him a job at once.

Which Berkeley restaurant is co-credited with inventing California-style pizza in 1980?

Chez Panisse put a pizza oven in the upstairs café it opened in 1980 and topped the pies with local Californian produce, just as Ed LaDou was trying the same idea across the bay.

Which fish tops Wolfgang Puck's best-known signature pizza?

Smoked salmon went on a pizza when Puck's first restaurant opened in 1982, alongside one topped with duck sausage, and the house-smoked salmon pizza became his signature dish.

Domino's founder Tom Monaghan sold which baseball team to a rival pizza-chain founder in 1992?

The Tigers won the World Series in 1984, a year after Monaghan bought them; in 1992 he sold the club to Mike Ilitch, a rival pizza founder who had once played in the Tigers' minor-league system.

Papa Murphy's, based in Vancouver, Washington, specializes in what kind of pizza?

Take-and-bake means Papa Murphy's assembles each pizza in store for the customer to bake at home, so its shops need less space and equipment and cost less to run than an ordinary pizzeria.

Mystic Pizza (1988) was the film debut of which future Oscar-winning actor?

Matt Damon made his film debut at 18 with a single line in Mystic Pizza; his Oscar, when it came, was for co-writing Good Will Hunting with Ben Affleck rather than for acting.

The Pizza Rat video of 2015 was filmed on the steps of a subway station in which borough?

Manhattan. A passer-by filmed the rat hauling its slice down the subway stairs in September 2015, and within two days of being posted the clip had been watched more than five million times.

Which frozen snack's jingle promised 'pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening, pizza at supper time'?

Bagel Bites, the mini frozen pizza bagels invented in Florida, borrowed the jingle's tune and shape from the McGuire Sisters' hit 'Sugartime', swapping the sugar for pizza.

Jeno Paulucci's bite-size pizza snack began as a new use for a machine that wrapped what?

Egg rolls were his line because Paulucci's fortune came from Chun King's Chinese food; cook Beatrice Ojakangas tried dozens of fillings in the wrapper before pizza won the taste tests.

Which food giant gained the Totino's frozen pizza brand by buying Pillsbury in 2001?

General Mills inherited Totino's from Pillsbury, which had bought rival Jeno's in 1985 and moved its bite-size pizza snacks under the Totino's name in 1993.

Rose and Jim Totino opened their first pizzeria in 1951 in which city on the Mississippi River?

Minneapolis: so many customers tried to eat in at the Totinos' carry-out shop that it became a full restaurant, then a frozen-pizza business they sold to Pillsbury in 1975.

Which frozen pizza brand, launched by Kraft in 1995, is sold with the slogan 'It's not delivery'?

DiGiorno finishes the line with 'It's DiGiorno', a boast that a frozen pizza could pass for a pizzeria's; the name had first appeared in 1991 on chilled pastas and sauces.

Which company bought Kraft's North American frozen pizza business in 2010?

Nestlé took over the business in 2010, and Kraft put the proceeds towards its takeover bid for the British chocolate maker Cadbury.

Which sci-fi spoof features Pizza the Hutt, a crime boss who is half man and half pizza?

Spaceballs, Mel Brooks's 1987 send-up of Star Wars, gives its heroes a debt to Pizza the Hutt, voiced by Dom DeLuise, who ends up trapped in his car and eats himself to death.

Which tech giant filed a patent for a pizza box that stops its staff café's pizzas going soggy?

Apple's box, credited to its café chief Francesco Longoni, has ridges under the pizza and holes in the lid, so moisture escapes instead of soaking the crust on the way back to a desk.

Chris Bianco's Pizzeria Bianco, which began in the corner of a grocery store, is in which US city?

Phoenix. Bianco first sold mozzarella he made in his apartment, then pizza from a grocer's back corner, and in 2003 his pies won him the James Beard award for Best Chef: Southwest.

What was Buddy's Rendezvous before it created Detroit-style pizza in 1946?

A speakeasy. Buddy's Rendezvous got by as a neighbourhood bar until owner Gus Guerra tried a square, Sicilian-style pizza in 1946, and it was the pizza that finally made the place a success.

Detroit-style pizza was originally baked in steel trays designed as what?

Automotive drip pans. Buddy's got its trays from Detroit's car industry, where they caught oil drips or held small parts, and baking in them gave the pizza its light, crisp crust.

Which Wisconsin cheese is the traditional topping on Detroit-style pizza?

Brick was first made in Wisconsin in 1877 and takes its name from the bricks that cheesemakers used to press the moisture out of its curds.

Via 313, named for Detroit's area code, began in 2011 as a pizza trailer in which city?

Austin. Detroit-born brothers Brandon and Zane Hunt opened the trailer in 2011 and called their square pies 'Detroit-style' to stand out, years before the style caught on across the country.

'Stuffed pizza' differs from ordinary deep-dish by adding what?

A second crust under the sauce: Nancy's founder Rocco Palese modelled the pizza on his mother's Italian Easter pie, sealing the cheese and fillings under a thin sheet of dough.

Pizzeria Uno co-founder Ike Sewell, a Texan, first wanted the restaurant to serve which cuisine?

Mexican food was Sewell's plan, since he thought the city lacked a decent Mexican restaurant; pizza won, but years later he opened an upscale Mexican place, Su Casa, beside his second pizzeria.

Gino's East, founded in 1966, was opened by two men of what profession?

Cab drivers Sam Levine and Fred Bartoli admitted they 'didn't know pizza from nothing', so they hired Alice Mae Redmond, a cook with years at a rival pizzeria, to create the recipe.

Which deep-dish chain did a Pizzeria Uno veteran open on St Patrick's Day 1971?

Lou Malnati's was opened by Lou, who had made deep-dish at Uno since the 1940s beside his father Rudy, the cook some accounts credit with the recipe instead of Uno's owners.

Pizzeria Uno's owners opened a second restaurant nearby in 1955 under what name?

Pizzeria Due, Italian for 'two', opened because the crowds had outgrown Pizzeria Uno, whose own name is simply Italian for 'one'.

Cheap slices sold in small New York shops earned what nickname?

Dollar slice. Shops such as 2 Bros. Pizza spread the $1 plain slice across the city from the late 2000s; inflation later pushed most 'dollar slices' past a dollar.

Which Coney Island pizzeria was opened in 1924 by Lombardi's original baker?

Totonno's. Anthony 'Totonno' Pero, who had made the pies at Lombardi's on Spring Street, opened Totonno's on Neptune Avenue in Coney Island in 1924, and his family ran it for the next century.

Joe's Tomato Pies, opened in 1910, made which New Jersey city the home of the tomato pie?

Trenton. A cook trained at Joe's opened Papa's Tomato Pies in 1912; Joe's has since closed, but Papa's still bakes the style, with the cheese laid under the tomatoes.

Pizzeria Napoletana, open in its city's Little Italy since 1948, calls itself the first pizzeria in which Canadian city?

Montreal. Pizzeria Napoletana has traded on Dante Street since 1948, sixteen years before Boston Pizza, now a national chain, opened its first restaurant far to the west in Edmonton.

Where was the record-setting 1,261.65-square-metre pizza of December 2012 made?

Rome. A team of Italian chefs made the gluten-free pizza, named Ottavia; when a Pizza Hut pie in Los Angeles finally outgrew it in 2023, the slices were given away to local charities.

Which civil rights pioneer's rent was pizza magnate Mike Ilitch reported to have quietly paid for over a decade?

Rosa Parks was attacked in her home in 1994, and Ilitch is reported to have paid for her to live somewhere safer until her death in 2005, which only became public years afterwards.

Frank Pepe's is famous for a New Haven pie topped with which shellfish?

Clams: Pepe's first served littlenecks on the half shell at the bar, and only later did Frank Pepe put them on a white pizza with chopped garlic and grated cheese.

Which fuel traditionally fires New Haven-style pizza ovens?

Coal fires the old masonry ovens at Frank Pepe's and its Wooster Street neighbours, and the fierce heat gives New Haven pizza its signature blackened, blistered crust.

Which Midwood, Brooklyn pizzeria did Domenico DeMarco run from 1965 until his death in 2022?

Di Fara blends the names of DeMarco and his first partner, Farina; for decades DeMarco made the pizzas himself, snipping fresh basil over each one with scissors.

Pizza farms, serving pies from home-grown ingredients, are popular in which US region?

The Upper Midwest: on summer evenings farms in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa fire their ovens and sell pizza topped with their own produce to visitors, who bring their own blankets, plates and drinks.

Kebab pizza, invented by immigrant pizzeria owners in the 1980s, became a fast-food favourite in which country?

Sweden. Its pizzerias are mostly run by immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans, and in small towns the same shop often sold pizza and kebab, so the two met on one plate.

Tricon Global, spun off in 1997 to run Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, was renamed what in 2002?

Yum! Brands was adopted in 2002, when buying Long John Silver's and A&W turned a three-chain company into one built on pairing its brands at a single site.

Which savory griddled pancake is often nicknamed 'Japanese pizza'?

Okonomiyaki means roughly 'grilled how you like'; the savoury cabbage-and-batter pancake boomed after World War II as a cheap, filling meal when rice was scarce.

Pizza Hut's Book It! reading program rewards children with a certificate for what?

A free Personal Pan Pizza. Book It! grew out of a dinner at which Pizza Hut's president talked about his son's struggles with reading, and teachers still set each child's monthly goal.

Which former world leader starred in a 1998 Pizza Hut commercial with his granddaughter?

Mikhail Gorbachev filmed the ad in Moscow in 1997 to raise money for his foundation; in it a family argue over his legacy until an older woman points out that he gave them Pizza Hut.

In 2000, Pizza Hut paid to put its logo on the side of what?

A Proton rocket wore the logo as it launched Zvezda, the space station's crew quarters, in July 2000; a year later the chain went further and had a pizza delivered to the station.