32 Things I Learned At The World’s Biggest Pizza Show
Here’s everything I learned about the pizza world at the Pizza Expo. Take me back.
1. The Italians and the Japanese are serious rivals at the World Pizza Games.
Here’s a picture of the Italians sizing up the Japanese.
And here’s a picture of the Japanese sizing up the Italians.
2. Black garlic exists and it tastes pretty good.
It also doesn’t make your breath stink!
3. Don’t eat (all of) the crust!
If you’re ever at the Pizza Expo don’t eat all the crust. Save room for the good stuff!
4. There’s pizza in Mongolia.
5. Pizza judges take their job VERY seriously.
6. Fortune cookie cannolis are a thing.
7. Italian pizza makers are extremely stylish.
The Italian buyers were the most stylish at the convention. In a sea of pizza shop owners wearing their hometown pizzeria shirts, they stood out the most.
8. The guy staring at the camera is a pizza sauce celebrity.
Everyone wanted to get their picture taken with him.
9. The dough they use in these pizza competitions isn’t actually real pizza dough.
It’s made of flour and water and little bit of oil. No yeast.
10. Pizza with coconut, lime, and mango is DELICIOUS.
This was my favorite pizza I tried at the expo.
11. Pizza spinners use “ProDough” to practice pizza spinning.
It smells funny and costs $25. You would see people casually spinning the dough throughout the expo.
13. Gluten free is in.
There were a surprising amount of gluten free booths at the expo.
14. Biscotti is out.
There was one TINY table with biscotti on it at the entire expo. I didn’t see any biscotti anywhere else.
15. Chances are your pizza box came from this place.
RockTenn is the biggest pizza box distributor in the world.
16. White pizza sauce exists.
17. There are such things as pizza oven celebrities.
This guy was on a few signs throughout the expo for his pizza ovens.
18. Italian pizza makers REALLY like Lady Gaga.
They had a Lady Gaga impersonator perform at the World Pizza Games and the Italians went CRAZY for her.
19. March is convention season.
The Nightclub and Bar convention was going on next door to the Pizza Expo. Every day at around 5 a huge group of extremely drunk people would come out from there.
The Amusement Expo was also happening next door.
20. The Northeast has the best non traditional pizza.
The pizza competition are broken up into regions. The Northeast winning team for
“non traditional” pizza had the highest score out of any region.
21. Mid America has the best traditional pizza.
A pizzeria from middle America has the highest traditional pizza score.
22. Pizza delivery insurance is a pretty big business.
There were multiple pizza delivery insurance companies. This was my favorite one called “Slice”.
23. There is an International School Of Pizza.
And this is their awesome brochure.
24. The Japanese have the most rabid pizza spinning fan base.
25. Buffalo chicken meatballs are delicious.
26. There is an entire company dedicated to deli pizza.
27. Chicken wings are also a really big thing at the Pizza Expo.
There were sooooo many chicken wings to be eaten. There were TONS of hot sauces to try.
28. This is where you should eat pizza at the Pizza Expo.
Contestants make one pizza for the judges and one for the crowd. You can try dozens of pizzas from around the world. Truly amazing.
29. Pizza shop owners are over Groupon.
They hate it. Groupon customers are the worst. The only time they use it is when they’re starting a new business or during a quiet time of business.
30. There is NOTHING like a pizza acrobatics competition.
It was one of the best part of the entire expo. These guys are crowd pleasers.
32. This invention is going to take the world by storm.
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Jonathan S. a year agoI don’t know why but I find that black garlic cross section unsettling.
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The Angry Luddite a year agoAw. The Mamma Mia reaction’s gone - and what better time to use it? We’ve been making out own homemade pizzas, and seriously - a garlic/ranch/Frank’s-Hot-Sauce base, with mini-pepperonis, diced onion, diced pineapple and diced olive (dice all the things!) is about as primo food porn as you can get. Seriously. Once you get over your pizza hangover, try it.
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