National Pepperoni Pizza Day

Pepperoni pizza!  Who doesn’t love it?  Did you know pepperoni is the number one all-time favorite topping for pizza?  Well it is.  In fact, it is so well-loved that it even has its own day of celebration, 9/20.

Pizza was created by Raffaele Esposito in June 1889, to honor Queen Margherita of Italy.  His first pizza was a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil, to represent the Italian flag.  Senor Esposito named his first pizza a Margherita pizza in honor of Italy’s Queen.

In the early 20th century, America had a large number of Italian immigrants, many of whom were living in New York.  There was a large Italian influence on the foods of New York and the rest of the United States at that time too.  One of those influences was pizza, and in 1919, pepperoni pizza was born.  Pepperoni is an American sausage made from a combination of cured pork and beef, made with paprika and/or chili powder.  So it has a smoky, spicy flavor.  It is believed to have been influenced by the Italian sausages from the Calabria and Apulia regions of Italy.  The word pepperoni in Italian means big pepper.  It was called pepperoni since it was originally the size of a bell pepper.  Ever since it’s creation, pepperoni pizza has been a huge success and today, it is the most popular pizza topping ever created.  It is enjoyed by everyone all over the world.

In honor of National Pepperoni Pizza Day, Larry and I of course had to do our part, and we had some pepperoni pizza to celebrate the day.  We ordered pizza from our favorite local pizza place, Marco’s.  Marco’s uses at least 2 kinds of delicious pepperoni for their pizza.  Their pizzas are all hot and fresh.  Every pizza is made the old fashioned way, with love.  Marco’s was founded in Oregon in 1978, and have since spread out across the country.  They’ve been “doing things the Italian way, because when your founder is a native Italian, you take pride in serving authentic Italian quality. Our dedication to quality has made us one of the fastest growing pizza chains in America, providing plenty of primo moments and opportunities along the way”.  Our Marco’s is located at 6875 120th Avenue, in Broomfield, CO.

I hope you all celebrated and ate your pepperoni pizza for National Pepperoni Pizza Day.

Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I have worked in the restaurant and catering industry for 35 years. I attended 2 culinary schools in Southern California, and have a degree in culinary arts from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, as well as a few other degrees in other areas. I love to cook and I love to feed people. View all posts by ajeanneinthekitchen