Pizza Day Date in the current year: February 9, 2024

Pizza is one of the signature dishes of Italian cuisine, along with pasta, risotto, lasagna, ravioli, Caprese salad, tiramisu, and gelato. It evolved from flatbread dishes that were popular in Naples in the late 18th or early 19th century.

Modern pizza consists of four basic ingredients: a dough crust, sauce, cheese, and various toppings. The dough crust is usually thin, although some pizza recipes call for a thicker crust. Pizza sauce is traditionally made from tomatoes, but other sauces may be used as well. The most popular pizza cheeses include mozzarella, provolone, cheddar, Parmesan, ricotta, Pecorino Romano, Emmental, feta, and Monterey.

As for toppings, there are literally hundreds of them. The archetypal Neapolitan pizza, pizza Margherita (allegedly named so after Queen Margherita of Savoy), has only three toppings representing the Italian flag: tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Another popular style of Neapolitan pizza is pizza marinara. It is made with tomato sauce, olive oil, oregano and garlic; interestingly, this pizza contains no cheese.

Other popular styles of Italian pizza are pizza capricciosa, pizza pugliese, and Sicilian pizza. Pizza capricciosa is topped with mozzarella, baked ham, mushrooms, artichoke and tomatoes. Pizza pugliese is baked with tomatoes, onion, and mozzarella; some versions may also include olives, capers and oregano. Sicilian pizza is thick crusted and often rectangular; common toppings include strong cheese, tomatoes, onions, anchovies and herbs.

In the early 20th century, Italian immigrants brought pizza to the United States, where it eventually became a popular fast food item. There are distinct types and styles of pizza that developed in North America. For example, Chicago-style pizza has a thick crust and is baked in a deep dish pan, and the famously controversial Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapple was invented by a Greek-born Canadian cook.

The most popular holiday dedicated to pizza is National Pizza Day, sometimes referred to as National Pizza Pie Day. Like most other food days celebrated in the United States, it doesn’t have a clear cut origin story (not that it needs one). In addition, there are food days celebrating specific pizza varieties, including:

• National Deep Dish Pizza Day (April 5)
• National Pizza Party Day (third Friday in May)
• Pizza Margherita Day (June 11)
• National Cheese Pizza Day (September 5)
• National Pepperoni Pizza Day (September 20)
• National Sausage Pizza Day (October 11)
• National Pizza with the Works except Anchovies Day (November 12)

Another Pizza Day was launched in 2021, when Google dedicated a Google Doodle to one of the world’s most popular dishes. The Doodle was released on December 6 to commemorate the day in 2017 when the art of the Neapolitan “Pizzaiuolo” (pizza maker) was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.