Who’s hungry? February 9 is annually celebrated as National Pizza Day. National Pizza Day was first celebrated in 2000, the person who officiated the National Pizza Day was never precisely documented, but that has never taken the value out of this day.
When it comes down to who invented pizza, it’s impossible to put a finger on one person because pizza has had quite a long historical timeline. According To https://www.history.com/news/a-slice-of-history-pizza-through-the-ages, Flatbreads were eaten by the ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks, but the modern birthplace of pizza is in the southwestern region of Italy, also known as the city of Naples.
In the late 1800s, immigrants took the beautiful recipe of pizza over the Atlantic Ocean to 32 Spring Street New York, NY. An Italian immigrant by the name of Gennaro Lombardi founded America’s first-ever pizzeria in 1905, which we now know as one of the most prized possessions of Italian dining in America, Lombardis.
With 350 slices of pizza eaten every second in the United States, it is no surprise that we need a national holiday for the food. A survey done in 2023 asked over 2,000 adults what their favorite food was and over 20% of them answered a variety of pizza.
This day is very important to pizza shops around the world. Many shops offer deals to encourage pizza purchases. The sales at local pizza shops on this day are always through the roof, with pizza on almost every dinner table in America. Farmers also notice a spike in cheese sales as this day approaches each year.
The state of Connecticut is known as the pizza capital of the world, according to pizza enthusiast Dave Portnoy, especially the New Haven area. Many pizzerias attract visitors from all over the world to try this Italian cuisine.
The highlight of New Haven Pizza is a pizzeria called Frank Pepe’s. According to https://pepespizzeria.com/about-u, after migrating in 1909 as a teenager to New Haven, Connecticut, he quickly returned home to Italy to fight in World War I. He then returned to New Haven and started working at a bakery on Wooster Street. While working at the bakery he began to make his version of pizza and sell it to individuals through the bakery.
Frank Pepe saved up enough money to purchase a wagon to extend his business to the streets of New Haven selling pies to the people of the community. After becoming very popular around town, Frank saved enough money to take over his original job site at the bakery and rename it, “Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana”.
Antonios Aspras, a Senior at Foran states “ I love going there, it’s a great place to eat and have fun with friends and family”. This day can be looked at as a day to bring families together and satisfy good times with good food.
