February 9 - National Pizza Day

February 9 may seem like just any standard day to you, however, it’s actually a day for celebrating one of the most loved foods in the world! That’s right, February 9 is National Pizza Day (as if we need an excuse to celebrate and eat some glorious pizza).

Pizza is a gift because there are so many different varieties. Thin crust, deep pan, cheese stuffed crust, sauce stuffed crust, sausage stuff crust…heck, that’s only the base! You can smother it with a traditional tomato sauce or even switch it up with some barbecue goodness. Toppings are unlimited – pepperoni, chicken, peppers, tuna, sweetcorn, pineapple, anchovies, beef…you name it, you can have it. To finish it off, all the cheese. We don’t care what kind, just give us ALL the cheese please.

To celebrate National Pizza Day, we’ve gathered some fun facts about one of our favourite foods.

1. Five billion pizzas are sold worldwide each year.

2. Around three billion of these are sold in the US.

3. In the US, roughly 350 slices of pizza are eaten every second.

4. 49% of people in the UK eat pizza at least once a week.

5. Pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping in the UK and the US…

6. …whilst Squid is one of the most popular in Japan!

7. It is believed that the first known pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria, opened in Naples, Italy, in 1738.

8. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest pizza in the world was prepared by Dovilio Nardi, Andrea Mannocchi, Marco Nardi, Matteo Nardi and Matteo Giannotte in Rome on 13 December 2012. The pizza, named Ottavia, had a total surface area of 1,261.65 m² (13,580.28 ft²).

9. The Guiness Book of Records also states that the most expensive pizza, commercially available, can be found at Gordon Ramsey’s Maze restaurant in London. The thin crust, wood fire-baked pizza is topped with onion puree, white truffle paste, fontina cheese, baby mozzarella, pancetta, cep mushrooms, freshly picked wild mizuna lettuce and garnished with fresh shavings of a rare Italian white truffle, itself worth £1,400 (then $2,500) per 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz). Fancy this pizza? You can buy it at Maze for £100!

10. In 2001, Pizza Hut became the first company to send pizza to outer space. The pizza was topped with salami to enhance the pizza’s flavour because researchers found that pepperoni did not withstand the 60-day testing process.