Everyone loves pizza – So much so that Pizza Hut, a famous fast food chain, made a 13,990 square foot pizza, breaking the Guiness World Record for the largest pizza ever made. This record was previously set by a group of Italian chefs in 2012. The record-breaking pizza was afterwards cut into 68,000 slices, most of which was donated to multiple charities afterwards.

Pizza is the world’s most famous dish, established by World Travel Connector.

According to a Naugatuck High School survey 90.9% of respondents love pizza. 100% of respondents that love pizza enjoy the classic cheese pizza and 40% like pepperoni on their pizza.

Some people dislike the greasy goodness of pizza like Derek Day, a sophomore at Naugy High. When he was asked if he liked pizza he said, “No, it’s too greasy and all that.” Who is this kid?

But others, like Jayda Costa, a senior at Naugatuck High school and an angel dropped from heaven said, “I love pizza, it’s such a good food! There’s a variety of toppings that can be incorporated. While I do believe that pizza is one of the most gourmet and scrumptious dishes on this planet and a gift from our Italian ancestors, some toppings simply do not belong on pizza.” We can all agree it’s anchovies.

Connecticut is known for having amazing restaurants that serve outstanding pizza. What makes these restaurants stand out is that their pizza is cooked New Haven-style. This style of pizza consists of a thin crust, and coal fired Neapolitan pizza. Some of the more popular pizzerias that serve New Haven-style pizza are Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana, Modern Apizza, Luna Pizzeria, Sally’s Apizza, and Zuppardi’s Apizza.

But where did pizza come from?

Originally created in Italy’s southwestern region, home to the city of Naples, pizza was sold by street vendors and was made of flatbread and savory toppings. According to Salerno’s Pizza website, in 1889, King Umberto 1 and Queen Margharita visited the city of Naples. Because of the Queen’s love for mozzarella, basil, and tomato on her flatbread, the Margarita pizza evolved.

In the late 19th century Italian immigrants brought their phenomenon of a dish to America. Pizza was originally called “focaccia,” and later adapted its world-wide known name from the Italian word that refers to a tomato pie.

Italian immigrant, Gennaro Lombardi, opened up the first pizzeria in America in 1905 in New York City. Originally from Naples, Lombardi made pizza wrapped in paper, tied with a string, and sold it to factory workers in the area. From here pizza soon took off across America reaching Chicago all the way to California. Now, Americans consume more than three billion pizzas a year, and eat an estimated amount of 100 acres of pizza each day!

Mrs. Dymond, a teacher at Naugatuck High School stated, “My father and stepmother live in Ohio and consider Pizza Hut has the best pizza, and I think that says a lot about the pizza in the mid-west.”

This is especially important when considering that according to the Daily Meal, Connecticut is once again home to the #1 pizza in the nation. Aren’t we just blessed to share a home with the best pizza across the country?