October is National Pizza Month. Yes, a month-long celebration of my all-time favorite food! But personally, I think pizza should be celebrated every day of every month.

Many other people think so, too. According to pizza.com, 94% of Americans eat pizza at least once a month.

What is your favorite type of pizza? What are your favorite toppings? How often do you and your family eat pizza? Tell us in the comments section below.

Pizza Fun Facts

Here are some other fun things to know about pizza, from pizza.com:

  • We consume about 45 slices of pizza per person in the U.S. each year. (I do that in a month!)
  • About 3 billion pizzas are sold annually in the U.S.
  • Another way of looking at it is that Americans devour 100 acres of pizza per day, or 350 slices per second. 
  • 36% of all pizza orders have pepperoni as their topping.
  • Other popular pizza toppings are mushrooms, extra cheese, sausage, green pepper, and onion.
  • In America, anchovies always rank last on the list of favorite toppings.
  • 62% of Americans prefer meat toppings, while 38% prefer vegetables.
  • Women are twice as likely as men to order vegetables on their pizza.
  • Popular gourmet toppings are oysters, crayfish, dandelions, sprouts, eggplant, Cajun shrimp, artichoke hearts, and tuna.
  • Some popular pizza toppings in Japan are squid and Mayo Jaga (mayonnaise, potato and bacon).
  • Regular thin crust is most popular in America; it’s preferred by 61% of the population, while 14% prefer deep-dish, and 11% prefer extra thin crust.
  • Saturday night is the most popular night to eat pizza.
  • The top 5 pizza sales days are: Super Bowl Sunday, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, the night before Thanksgiving, and New Year’s Day.
  • Kids ages 3 to 11 prefer pizza over all other food groups for lunch and dinner.
  • There are an estimated 63,000 pizzerias in the U.S.
  • Pizzerias represent 17% of all U.S. restaurants.
  • Pizza accounts for more than 10% of all food service sales.
  • The average pizzeria uses roughly 55 pizza boxes per day.

Some Pizza History

According to mandatory.com, pizza can be traced back to Naples, Italy. In the 1500s, locals were known to eat a similar dish consisting of baked dough with a slice of tomato covered in cheese.

Then, the very first pizza shop opened in Naples in the 1800s. It’s also the first shop to make margherita pizza.

Prior to 1933, pizza was only sold by the pie. It wasn’t until that year that Patsy’s Pizzeria in New York City began selling slices.

Recording Your Pizza Purchases

So I’m sure after reading this post you’re going to run out and get a pizza. When you do, please remember to record it! You’ll find the Pizzeria store type in your Store List, and then Pizza will be under the Prepared Foods category in the Barcode Reference Booklet if you use a handheld scanner, or if you have the NCPMobile App, the Non-Barcoded Items listing in the app.

Update: Leap Into Fall Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes

Don’t forget the Leap Into Fall Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes ends today, October 1. Be on the lookout next week for the list of winners as well as where you can find all 10 leaf images.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy a slice or two!

Best Regards,
Taylor