I recently read an article that proclaimed pepperoni as the #1 favorite pizza topping in all 50 states. I got to wondering if Yakima falls in line, or if we like other toppings better.

Yep, when it comes to pizza across the United States, pepperoni is the king of toppings. Hormel is the country's top producer, having sold enough in the run up to last year's Super Bowl Sunday (40 million feet), to tunnel through the planet Earth.

And while pizza is an Italian invention, pepperoni isn't. According to an article in the New York Times:

Purely an Italian-American creation, like chicken Parmesan,” said John Mariani, a food writer and historian who has just published a book with the modest title: “How Italian Food Conquered the World.” “Peperoni” is the Italian word for large peppers, as in bell peppers, and there is no Italian salami called by that name, though some salamis from Calabria and Apulia are similarly spicy and flushed red with dried chilies. The first reference to pepperoni in print is from 1919, Mr. Mariani said, the period when pizzerias and Italian butcher shops began to flourish here.

 

While I do like pepperoni, it isn't my first choice for a pizza topping. i go for a trio of sausage, mushrooms, and black olives on a thin crust. How about you?

Are you like the rest of the country, and order that large pepperoni pie first? Or does another topping make the top of your list?

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