Pizza Bites: America’s Favorite Pizza Topping Isn’t Italian

2026-07-14 · 8 min · 13 entities

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→ discusses History website

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→ discusses Arts concept

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→ discusses food concept

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→ hosted by Level Media company

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→ hosted by Level Media Inc company

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Feed author/publisher: Level Media Inc.

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concepts 7

mentioned Society & Culture concept

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mentioned Arts concept

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mentioned food concept

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mentioned America’s Favorite Pizza Topping Isn’t Italian concept

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Pizza Bites: America’s Favorite Pizza Topping Isn’t Italian
discusses Society & Culture concept

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Feed category: Society & Culture
discusses Arts concept

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Feed category: Arts
discusses food concept

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Feed category: Food

companys 4

mentioned Level Media company

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mentioned Level Media Inc company

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hosted by Level Media company

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evidence rules-v5
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hosted by Level Media Inc company

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Feed author/publisher: Level Media Inc.

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mentioned History website

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Feed category: History
discusses History website

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Feed category: History

Episode description as stored

In the second Pizza Bite from Eating History, Adrienne and Stephen tackle America’s undisputed favorite pizza topping: pepperoni. From the surprising reality of ordering "peperoni" in Italy to its mysterious origins in early 20th-century New York, they explore how an Italian-American community creation transformed into a national culinary staple. In this episode: Why ordering a "pepperoni" pizza in Naples will get you a pie covered in bell peppers The 1919 debut of the word and its evolution from Southern Italian cured meat traditions The culinary science behind why pepperoni’s high fat content and paprika make it the perfect pizza topping The earliest documentation of a pepperoni pizza at The Spot in New Haven, Connecticut How post-WWII expansion turned this Italian-American invention into the default topping for one out of every three pizzas in America