* Each year, pizza is a $30 billion industry. * In the U.S., there are about 61,269 pizza parlors. * Everyone in the United States eats about 23 lbs., or 46 slices, every year. * Each year in the United States, 3 billion pizzas are sold. * In America, the most popular ethnic food is Italian. * Children ages 3-11 prefer pizza over all other foods for lunch and dinner, according to a recent Gallup Poll. * 36 percent of all pizza orders want their pizza topping pepperoni. * We consume around 251,770,000 pounds of pepperonis every year. * A few popular pizzas toppings are: Mushrooms, Extra cheese, Sausage, Green Pepper, and Onion. In the list of most popular pizza toppings in America, the last one is anchovies. New gourmet pizza toppings have rapidly became popular.Some of those toppings include: Chicken, Oysters, Crayfish, Dandelions, Sprouts, Eggplant, Cajun Shrimp, Artichoke Hearts, Venison, Duck, Canadian-Style Bacon and Tuna. Practically every kind of pizza topping has been tried by pizza chefs, some of those toppings being peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, and mashed potatoes. * Americans prefer meat toppings to veggie toppings by a ratio of 62 to 100. women order twice as much vegetable toppings than men. * Some popular pizza toppings in Japan are squid and Mayo Jaga (mayonnaise, potato and bacon). * In India they like pickled ginger, minced mutton and tofu. The people of Brazil prefer green peas for their topping. Russians serve pizza covered in Mockba (a mix of sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon and onions.) When do hungry pizza eaters buy the most pizzas? ½ of all pizzas are purchased on Fridays and Saturdays, and the biggest pizza ordering day is Super bowl Sunday. Just how much pizza do we really eat? Over 93% of the American population eats at least 1 pizza each month, and the average family eats pizza 30 times a year via delivery, dine-in, and carryout! Why do most pizza ads picture a pepperoni pizza somewhere in the ad? Pepperoni is the most popular topping in the U.S. with over 60% of all orders having it, and in Europe, tuna is the most popular topping. Is the tomato really a “fruit” or “vegetable”? Arguably the tomato could be considered a “fruit” because a "fruit" is any fleshy material covering a seed or seeds; however, the United Stated Supreme court ruled it to be a “vegetable” in 1893 in order to collect import taxes. Fruit had no import taxes, and the U.S. growers wanted to protect their position by blocking lower priced imported tomatoes. By taxing the tomato imports they could keep their profits. Just what kinds of pizzas are there? Every type you could possibly imagine including peanut butter and jelly, even ice cream, and any other whimsical creation. In the U.S, there are 3 main regional styles of pizza. The East is known for enjoying the New York-style pizza which is considered to be the Neapolitan consisting of a light, thin crust, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and vegetable or meat topping. The Midwestern states prefer the deep-dish Chicago style pizza, which has a thick crust with loads of toppings. And people in the West Coast enjoy a more “sophisticated look” of light crusts topped with healthier vegetables such as sun-dried tomatoes and asparagus.