By Lisa Hadden
Super Bowl Sunday is statistically the most popular day of the year to eat pizza. Pizza Hut alone sells over 2 million pizzas on this day every year! So, how appropriate is it that this year, National Pizza Day (February 9), falls on Super Bowl Sunday?
Pizza is something we all enjoy, and it has been around since the late 19th century when Italian immigrants brought it to America. It gained popularity after World War II because our American soldiers, who were stationed in Italy, fell in love with it. Pizza began as a flatbread that might just have a couple of toppings, but today you can enjoy it with a large variety of toppings.
Americans absolutely LOVE pizza. Every day, as a nation, we eat 350 slices of pizza per second — yes, per second. That would be 100 acres (football fields) of pizza per day. In 2021, Americans spent $6.1 billion on frozen pizzas alone. Now, this is easy for me to believe as there have been many times I have done my grocery shopping and arrived home with the ingredients for several different meals … but instead of throwing something together, I find myself deciding to just pop a pizza into the oven! As a matter of fact, a past report showed that 13% of the U.S. population eat pizza on any given day.
Would pizza be possible without agriculture? Absolutely not. From the crust that is usually made from flour to the sauce made from tomatoes, followed by cheese made from milk to every single topping — it all begins at a farm. You say you are gluten-free? No worries, your crust can be made from cauliflower or even almond flour. And did you know that it was once thought that tomatoes were poisonous? Personally, I am so happy they were wrong. If your toppings of choice are sausage, pepperoni or bacon, you are going to want to thank pig farmers. Is hamburger your thing? Thank a beef producer. Cheese, of course, is due to the hard work of dairy farmers. And let’s not forget mushrooms, onions, peppers and my new favorite — pickles!
If you are always looking for something fun to celebrate, keep these dates on your calendar:
February 9 – National Pizza Day
September 5 – National Cheese Pizza Day
September 20 – National Pepperoni Pizza Day
October 11 – National Sausage Pizza Day
And the best … OCTOBER is National Pizza Month!
So, on Sunday, whether you are cheering for the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles, don’t forget to indulge in your favorite pizza!
