Pizza, the Perfect Food

• A few facts on Pizza:

1. The people of United States eat around 350 slices of pizza each second, or 100 acres per day. 
2. Each year, pizza is a $30 billion industry.
3. In the there are about 61,269 pizza parlors.
4. Everyone in the United States eats about 23 lbs., or 46 slices, every year.
5. Each year in the United States, 3 billion pizzas are sold.
6. In America, the most popular ethnic food is Italian. 
7. Children ages 3-11 prefer pizza over all other foods for lunch and dinner, according to a recent Gallup Poll.
8. 36 percent of all pizza orders want their pizza topping pepperoni.
9. We consume around 251,770,000 pounds of pepperonis every year.
   Editor's note - source: http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112790/facts.html

• Why Pizza is the perfect food?
• The perfect shape:(http://www.2dcurves.com/conicsection/conicsectionc.html)

Because of its symmetry the circle is considered as the perfect shape. It is the symbol for the total symmetry of the godly. The Greek scholar Proclus (500 AC) wrote: "the circle is the first, the simplest and most perfect form". As a Christian symbol it represents eternity, and the sleeping eye of God (Genesis1:2).

An anonymous poet wrote:

oh, the Circle, she is so divine
her curve is round, unlike the line.

The Dutch singer Toon Hermans said:

I have wandered a lot and I found:
most good things are round:
the breast of a mother, a tuba, plums and cherry flan.

• Pizza can contain the four food groups on one slice:
1. Meats
2. Dairy products
3. grains; and
4. Fruits and vegetables.

As many people know the usual ingredients of Pizza are bread(grains), marinara a.k.a tomato paste (vegetable) and cheese (dairy). Now the fourth ingredient can either be a meat or a fruit to round out the four food groups. Let’s say one places on pepperoni or pineapples, this will round out the food group and make one perfectly delicious, healthy pizza. Considering everything in moderation, not adding too much of one ingredient or eating too many slices, you have one perfect meal.

• Regular Pizza to premium pizza:
• There are many different types of Pizza’s. Many know of the regulars; Pepperoni Pizza and Plain Cheese Pizza. However pizza can be topped with just about anything. Have you ever tried a Thai Chicken Pizza? From the casual dining restaurant California Pizza Kitchen one can find numerous pizza’s with exotic ingredients. The Thai Chicken Pizza includes pieces of chicken breast marinated in a spicy peanut-ginger and sesame sauce, Mozzarella cheese, green onions, bean sprouts, julienne carrots, cilantro and roasted peanuts. Or the Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza;  with ingredients including Caramelized pears, Gorgonzola , Fontina, and Mozzarella cheeses, sweet caramelized onions, topped with chopped hazelnuts and served with field greens tossed in garden-herb ranch dressing.

 

• Pizza is enjoyable for kids:
• As mentioned above in the facts Children ages 3-11 prefer pizza over all other foods for lunch and dinner, according to a recent Gallup Poll. Pizza is a great way to show children new foods. To have them try new foods on a platform that they already love. Perhaps if my mother had put spinach on my Pizza as a younger kid I would enjoy it more today. Also, getting kids to eat healthier is easy to do with Pizza; sliced tomatoes as an alternative to tomato sauce works well on a pizza. As well as toppings such as vegetables and green leaves are a great way to have a child eat his veggies.