Events › Mangiamo! A History of Pizza

Mangiamo! A History of Pizza

Pizza is such a large part of the food culture in the United States. The pizza industry generated close to 50 billion dollars in the U.S for 2024. It seems to be only growing each year. This presentation will talk about how pizza started in Naples, Italy in the late 19th Century and then arrived in the United States in the early 20th Century. Pizza took off in cities such as New York City, Chicago, and even Trenton, New Jersey with the arrival of Italian immigrants. Americans eat approximately 100 acres of pizza every day. About 94% of the U.S. population eats pizza.

The U.S. has many legendary pizzerias such as Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Brooklyn and Lombardi's in Manhattan which was established in 1905. New Jersey has the oldest, continuously run pizzeria with Papa's Tomato Pies which was established in 1912. For the last two years, Jason Love visited more than 200 pizzerias in NYC, NJ, and Philadelphia searching for the perfect slice of pizza. You can track his pizza journey on the website: Mangiamopizza.org. His book "A Pizza Journey with Family and Friends" highlights some of the pizzerias he visited. The presentation should be a fun night with some pizza history, a bit of trivia, and some pizza as well.

Join us at the library to talk all things pizza!

No registration required.