Pizza might just be the perfect take out food. It’s delicious, easy to share, and almost infinitely customizable. If you can think of it, someone has probably made a pizza with it. But despite all the weird and unusual ingredients people might like to top their pizzas with, there is one topping that is always a crowd-pleaser: pepperoni. Pepperoni is America’s favorite pizza topping, other than cheese, of course. At Primo Pizza, pepperoni pizzas make up a significant portion of the orders we get for take out food in Dracut.
How much do you know about America’s favorite pizza? We’re digging into the origins of pepperoni and why we love it on pizza and take out food in Dracut.
It’s an American invention.
Pizza is definitely an Italian food, and the word “pepperoni” sounds Italian, but it’s actually a purely American invention. To be fair, the Americans who invented pepperoni were of Italian descent, but it’s not a food that they brought from their homeland. The first records we have of pepperoni are from 1919, when Italian delis and pizzerias across New York City started to sell and serve it on their food. In the 1950s, the commercialization of gas pizza ovens turned pizza and pepperoni into a cultural touchstone.
Science makes it extra tasty.
Humans are drawn to foods with complex flavors. Pizza with any topping combines sweet and savory flavors with the basic ingredients of tomatoes and cheese. When you add pepperoni, you get a pizza that also has richness and spice. But there’s another reason why we love pepperoni in particular on our pizza. It’s a chemical reaction called the Maillard reaction. You know how pepperoni curls up and gets crispy around the edges when you bake it? That’s the Maillard reaction. The amino acids in high-protein foods react with the sugars to create the crispiness that we expect from our pepperoni pizza.
Celebrate Pepperoni Pizza Day with Take Out Food in Dracut
No one needs a reason to order take out food in Dracut, but you get one anyway on September 20th. It’s National Pepperoni Pizza Day! We can’t think of a better day to get some friends and family together for some delicious pepperoni pizza from Primo.
