If you stop and think about it, do you really know anyone who doesn’t like pizza? You may hear people say they like or dislike certain pizza toppings, or have a preference for one restaurant’s pizza over another — but it’s been our experience (and granted, given our line of work perhaps we’re not the most objective source) – that: People. Like. Pizza.
Thinking back over your life, there’s probably been times that pizza, in one context or another, played an important role during or throughout certain rites of passage. As a kid, maybe the first time you took part in helping to make dinner was to spread the cheese or toppings on a homemade pizza; or enjoyed the fun of crafting mini-pizzas with biscuit dough, Ragu sauce, and a bag of shredded cheese. (Who hasn’t put their kids to work doing that one?)
It could have been just the regular familiarity of Pizza Night for dinner – tired after a long week at work, Friday nights were made easier for mom and dad by calling up for delivery. (In my house, Saturday afternoon was our pizza day – dad brought it home from his half-day at work every weekend, along with the Sunday paper. Those were the days!)
Those are memories that are entwined in our childhood memories – of families spending time together, arguing over which delivery place made the best pizzas, do we get half-cheese/half-pepperoni? Anyone have any coupons? And who’s going to get the last piece (I’ll wrestle you for it!).
A few years later, maybe with your first taste of teenage freedom – your after-the-game high school hangout was at a local pizza parlor. You may not have even liked the pizzas they made – but if it was where ‘the gang’ could be found, you’d usually be there, too. That might be where you forged lifelong friendships with schoolmates, or got up the nerve to ask a girl for your first date. Maybe you even fell in love over a pizza and a couple of cokes. And maybe your wedding rehearsal dinner included a local Italian restaurant and a lot of hot ‘pies.’
For most of us, the word “pizza” conjures up not just an immediate craving – but also some great memories. It’s been a staple in the Average American Life for over 100 years (first coming to America in the late 1800′s, by the way) – and depending on where you first tasted it or where you live, you might have even had some loud discussions about where the best pizza can be found. New York? Chicago? Boston? It’s all a matter of taste, of course. And the innumerable ways it can be prepared – with variations of crust, shape, sauces, cheeses, toppings, stuffings, dips, served hot, eaten cold, and whatever other new ideas pizza masters can concoct – is one of the reasons the pizza is so universally loved.
Because that’s the truth, isn’t it? Pizzas aren’t just admired – they’re Loved. It’s a relationship that most of us formed early and developed through our lives – becoming one of the constants, something you can always depend on. So our advice is – when you find a pizza that hits the spot – remember that place. Tell your friends. So that that pizza will live on . . . to make others as deliciously happy as you.
(Is it time to order a pizza yet?)
