Buzz
There's an old saying that pizza is like love. When it’s great, it’s incredibly great. And when it’s not, it’s still pretty good. As one of the world’s favorite foods, approximately three billion fresh pizzas and one billion frozen ones are sold in the US each year, averaging more than 12 pizzas per person. Here are ten unusual stories about pizza, ranging from maggots and explosives to war criminals and gremlins.
10. Contaminants
Given how widely loved pizza is around the world, you'd think that the authorities would keep a close watch on the pizza industry. But if you ever saw the list of contamination levels that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deems acceptable, you might consider going on a hunger strike. Pizza sauce and tomato paste can get pretty funky, with a permissible allowance of 30 fly eggs per 100 grams, or 15 or more fly eggs and a maggot or two per 100 grams. And when you factor in the crust and toppings, you're most likely consuming mold, mildew, insect fragments, aphids, rodent hair, and what the FDA delicately refers to as “mammalian excreta.”
9. The Moon
As previously mentioned, Pizza Hut is no stranger to bold marketing campaigns. Back in 1998, they came up with the idea of using high-powered lasers to imprint their logo onto the surface of the moon. Fortunately, common sense took over. After consulting with experts, they discovered the technology needed for such a feat was still years away. Additionally, for humans on Earth to spot the logo with the naked eye, it would have to be the size of Texas. In the years that followed, Pizza Hut struck several deals with the financially struggling Russian space program, including placing their logo on a rocket and even delivering a pizza to the International Space Station.
8. Nguyen Ngoc Loan
On February 1, 1968, one of the most iconic images of the Vietnam War was captured when photographer Eddie Adams took a photo of South Vietnamese national police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing an unidentified Viet Cong prisoner in the streets of Saigon. The photo (which would earn Adams the Pulitzer Prize in 1969) is a stark portrayal of the brutal realities of war—the bullet from Loan’s pistol can be seen leaving the man’s skull. While the Vietnam War was deeply unpopular, this particular event stoked antiwar sentiments. Three months later, Loan was injured in combat (ultimately losing his right leg). Initially transported to Australia, he was so despised there that he was relocated to the U.S. Though there were talks of deporting Nguyen back to South Vietnam as a war criminal, he and his family were allowed to stay in the U.S.
After the war, he opened a pizzeria in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. He ran the restaurant, named 'Les Trois Continents,' for about 15 years until he was eventually identified. Business declined, and Loan allegedly found threatening messages scrawled in the restroom. By 1991, he was forced to close the business. Loan passed away from cancer on July 14, 1998, at the age of 67.
7. Bulletproof
In 1969, former Marine Richard Davis was delivering pizzas in Detroit when he was robbed at gunpoint. During the confrontation, he shot two of the robbers, but was himself shot twice. While recovering, Davis came up with the idea for a bulletproof vest. Though bullet-resistant vests have existed since the 1500s, they were bulky and ineffective, made from heavy sheets of metal. Davis aimed to create a vest that could be discreetly worn under clothing. He designed a vest made of nylon and named his creation 'Second Chance.' Davis believed so strongly in his product that he marketed it by personally visiting police stations, donning one of the vests, and letting an officer shoot him in the chest with a sidearm. By the mid-’70s, the nylon was replaced by Kevlar, a synthetic fiber originally developed for tire manufacturing. It is estimated that bulletproof vests have saved the lives of over 2,000 police officers in the U.S. alone.
6. Danger
Richard Davis managed to survive his encounter with muggers because of his training as an armed ex-Marine. Unfortunately, many other pizza delivery drivers aren’t so lucky. Though it may seem like a simple job often filled by teenagers, pizza delivery can be incredibly risky. Drivers face robberies and assaults on a regular basis. Many are tricked with fake orders and bogus addresses, luring them into dangerous areas where they can be attacked. In the worst cases, drivers have been raped or murdered. Even more troubling, major pizza chains prohibit their drivers from carrying concealed weapons. In 2004, when a Pizza Hut driver shot and killed a robber during a delivery, he was fired from his job.
530. Minutes or Less
Domino’s Pizza was founded in 1960 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a college town home to the University of Michigan. Since then, it has grown into a multi-billion-dollar corporation, currently under the control of the controversial Bain Capital, co-founded by former US presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Unlike Pizza Hut, Domino’s stuck with more traditional advertising tactics. Their most notable achievement was the famous 30-minute or free pizza guarantee, which became a major part of their identity.
However, the 30-minute delivery promise led to significant legal troubles for the company. Drivers were accused of being pressured into driving dangerously to meet their deadlines. In 1992, Domino’s paid $2.8 million to the family of an Illinois woman whose van had been hit by a delivery vehicle. In 1993, a Missouri woman was awarded $78.75 million after a crash in 1989 left her injured. Domino’s settled for approximately $15 million, and the policy was ultimately discontinued.
4. The Noid
Domino’s Noid was one of the most unusual and unappealing advertising characters: a gremlin-like figure in a red rabbit suit created to symbolize the problems faced in delivering pizzas within 30 minutes. The Noid’s goal was always to make the driver late, using tricks like freezing the pizzas with a gun. Much like the Trix rabbit, the Noid was continually thwarted. The character’s popularity led to video games on computers and the Nintendo platform.
On January 30, 1989, the Noid saga took a shocking twist when a man named Kenneth Lamar Noid stormed into a Domino’s Pizza in Atlanta, Georgia, taking two employees hostage. Strangely, Noid believed that the company's advertisements were aimed at him personally. The standoff lasted for five tense hours, during which Noid made bizarre demands, including $100,000 and a getaway car, and even forced the employees to make him a pizza. Once they managed to escape, Noid turned himself in to the authorities. He faced numerous felony charges but was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity.
3. The Pizza Bomber
The story of the pizza bomber is one of the strangest criminal cases in U.S. history. On August 28, 2003, Brian Wells, a pizza delivery man, walked into a bank in Erie, Pennsylvania, with a shotgun and a bomb strapped around his neck. He demanded $250,000, but only received $8,702 before being apprehended by police. In his bizarre account, Wells claimed that he had been forced to wear the bomb while delivering pizza, with the threat that it would detonate if he didn’t rob the bank. While negotiating with the police, just moments before the bomb squad could disarm the device, the bomb exploded, killing Wells.
The case remained unsolved for several years, but in 2007, the mystery was unraveled when multiple individuals were charged for their roles in the conspiracy. It was believed that Wells had been part of the plot all along, but didn’t realize that a real bomb would be used. When he discovered the bomb’s authenticity, his co-conspirators coerced him into wearing it at gunpoint. The money from the heist was intended to fund a hit on Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong’s father, whom she believed to be wealthy. Diehl-Armstrong was sentenced to life plus 30 years, while her accomplice, Kenneth Barnes, received 45 years.
The storyline continued to influence popular culture, with it being referenced in multiple TV series and serving as the backdrop for the forgettable comedy 30 Minutes or Less. Critic Roger Ebert’s review included the observation, 'The moral of the story: If you fall into the target demographic for this film, Hollywood holds you in low regard.'
2. OJ Simpson
In the United States, Superbowl Sunday holds the record for the highest pizza sales of the year. However, there have been a few unusual events that triggered significant increases and decreases in pizza sales. One such event was the OJ Simpson saga; on June 17, 1994, the nation watched intently as the former football legend led police on a slow-speed chase with his friend Al Cowlings in a white Bronco. Domino’s reported a massive surge in pizza orders as the infamous Bronco crawled down the highway.
Months later, Domino’s experienced another unexpected trend in pizza sales when they saw a spike just before the verdict was delivered in the OJ Simpson case. According to company spokesperson Tim McIntyre, things came to a halt shortly after noon, once the decision was read out. 'We couldn’t believe it, but for five minutes, there wasn’t a single pizza ordered across the country,' McIntyre recalled. 'From 1:00 to 1:05, the phone lines were completely silent.'
Philip Workman, a man whose fate became the center of a highly debated case, found himself in a tragic turn of events that would change everything. His name would be remembered for more than just the crimes he committed.
In the chaos that followed, Workman tried to surrender his weapon, but the officers' flashlight strike made it go off accidentally. The police responded with gunfire, wounding Workman. There remains controversy over what truly happened that day, with Workman claiming he was simply trying to give up the firearm.
Amidst the confusion, Lieutenant Ronald Oliver tragically lost his life. Many believe the trial that followed was deeply flawed, and there were whispers that Oliver's death might have been due to friendly fire. Despite this, Workman was sentenced to death, and despite a temporary stay, a judge ruled against reopening the case.
In a final, poignant act, Workman requested a vegetarian pizza be sent to a homeless person near the prison as his last meal. His request was denied. However, the story sparked a nationwide movement, with hundreds of pizzas being delivered to homeless shelters around the country in response.
