I always see people talk about how big pizzas are in the usa, how they feel full after only 2 slices, and how its shameful to eat a whole pizza by yourself. In Europe two slices is barely a meal, and its nothing out of the norm to eat a whole pizza by yourself. Are y’all’s pizzas as big as people online make them out to be?
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They come in difference sizes. Personal pizzas are small enough for one person. A large pie will feed 4 people.
Pizzas come in many different sizes in America. Some of them are reeeeally big, so yeah sometimes.
Did this not work for you?
https://www.google.com/search?q=pictures+of+NY+pizza+slices
We have lots of regional variations and even within a region the styles will vary. You can get the Italian style individual pizzas all the way up to comically big novelty slices. The typical would be the NY style slice, which two slices can be a typical serving, though some more or less.
I’ve no idea how ours compare in sizes to yours but I have absolutely no shame in eating however many slices of pizza as I want/can/are left
Yes they are
There are millions of places that serve pizza across America. They come in various shapes and sizes. Make of that information what you will.
There are no standardized pizza sizes and most places that sell pizza have a variety of sizes, so yes. Big pizzas are big. Small pizzas are not big.
There are different sizes of pizza.
10″ (25.4cm), 12″ (30.5cm), and 14″(35.6cm) are the most common diameters. Plenty of places near me can go up to 16″ (40.6cm) or 18″ (45.7cm) diameter.
A 6″ (15.2cm) pizza is often available as a pizza for one person. The rest are meant to be shared or saved as leftovers.
Edited to add conversions. Thanks, u/Ryebread095 for tbe reminder. I was distracted by tbe pizza shop menus while pulling the sizes.
We have all sizes, from “Personal Pan Pizzas” (about 6 inches) to big ol’ X-tra Large which can be 18 inches or more.
At least in NY, the generic pizza pie we always got was very big. And two slices indeed is a large amount/full meal. Since I’ve moved to Arizona, I’ve noticed it’s different in some places and that you frequently get to choose the pizza size ranging from 8″ to 18″
But still generally ordering a pizza pie means getting a large one to share, and not a small personal size unless otherwise specified.
We have a nearly endless variation in size and types of pizza, but generally yes. Two slices of a standard large pizza is a good sized meal.
My wife and I will split a full large pie, eat half of it, and take the rest for leftovers at work the following days.
These would be impossible to eat by yourself. giant pizza
The place by where I used to live, a regular”medium pizza” was massive.
Yes, and no.
But a 16 or 18 inch pie (40 or 46 cm) is a common order for a new york style pizza. That’s a LOT of pizza
Yes they are that big because American food traditions treat pizza as a communal meal food. You get one or two pizzas to cover a whole group of people who will only eat a couple slices of each. You can get the type of pizza you’re talking about where it’s made and baked for one person, but that is in the minority here and in some ways a more recent development. I’m not saying it never existed before in the US, but pizza got big as a group food. I think pizza being a food that holds up well being delivered also was a big factor to its boom.
Pizzas in the US are usually more bready than Italian pizzas, so yes they are more filling. I lived in northern Italy for a year, and I could often eat a whole pizza myself. In the US, it’s very rare for me to eat more than 4 or 5 slices.
You’ll be surprised to learn that pizza can be made into different sizes.
Different shapes too!
They’re very big, they can be anywhere from 16-20 inches in diameter. They’re also insanely high in calories. We put everything from chicken, bacon, pineapple, to sausage on our pizzas. I wont say what other ingredients go into a pizza, but I’ve been to Europe a number of times and they’re just not the same. And yes, I have eaten large pizzas by myself.
Only slightly bigger in diameter than what you find in Europe, but much thicker crust and much heavier toppings in general.
I’m a tall, large man with a healthy appetite. Every Wednesday I go over to my brother in law’s to have pizza with my nieces. For three adults and two girls, we order three pizzas. Two are left over at the end of the night. My BIL takes one to work to share with his crew, the other I assume they eat for lunches on Thursday and Friday, maybe Saturday.
tl;dr: one pizza is plenty to feed three adults and two kids.
Though not uniform, the typical “large” pizza in the US is 14”-16” ( 35.56-40.64 cm) in diameter.
From what I’ve heard, in Europe pizzas tend to be personal pan pizzas. Small ones intended as a meal for one.
In America, yes, pizzas are much bigger than that. A “Large” pizza can be anywhere from 14 to 18 inches in diameter. Thats like 35 to 45cm, give or take.
In America, pizzas are generally intended to feed a group of people. Often at casual parties or get togethers.
Pizzas in the US are usually a shared group party/social food, and we specify “Personal Pizza” for the sizes I usually see in Europe. Depending on the region, either the pizza will fill you up because it’ll be DENSE (Chicago), or just So Large and flat (NYC).
It’s why we might say, “I’ll get a slice”, because a single slice of pizza can be a massive, plate-engulfing affair from a corner NYC spot. 🙂
It’s more common for a personal sized pizza to be a sit-down affair nowadays, but usually it’s party finger-food (whole pizzas) or on-the-go takeout (slice).
14 inches (35 cm) in diameter is something of a standard for a large delivery pizza from a national chain like Pizza Hut or Domino’s. There are also small and medium pizzas. Sitdown restaurant pizzas I’ve been to are more European-sized. A New York style pizza sold by the slice is easily 16 to 20 inches (40 to 50 cm) across. Those slices are really filling.
Pizza is usually a shared thing in the US. I consider a good large pizza to be 16″ diameter, or around 130cm.
They make “personal” pizzas, usually like.. 8″, which are sold frozen or served at pizza restaurants.
But, most pizza I would imagine is purchased as a group thing. I’d eat around 3 slices of a “large” pizza.
I think the biggest difference is that in Europe a pizza is usually a meal for one. In America personal sized pizzas are a thing, but generally pizzas are made to be shared.
Most American pizza places offer some combination of small, medium, and large. A small pizza usually has a 12 to 14 in diameter (30 to 35 cm); medium is usually around 16 in (40 cm), and a large is usually 18 in (45 cm). Obviously, this doesn’t always apply, but I feel it is pretty standard for run-of-the-mill, non-artisanal round pizzas.
>its shameful to eat a whole pizza by yourself
Well, then I have no shame.
There’s a lot more variety. But I believe in Europe you’re generally getting smaller personal pizzas. In the US the default is getting a larger one for people to share, and you can also get a personal one if you want. But usually I’ll also order pizza with the intention of leftovers. NYC and the area around there also sells pizza by the slize and then you get a really big slice (you can probably google it) but 2 slices of that is a lot of pizza.
The economics of buying a pizza is such that for a few extra dollars, buying a large can nearly double the size of the pizza. It is far more economical to buy a large and to keep the extra slices for later than to buy two medium pizzas.
A medium might cost $14 and a large $17. The large will have 65% more pizza for $3. Most people realize this and so nearly all the pizzas sold are large. If not, they’re extra large.
Medium pizzas are generally bought only by people that don’t want leftover pizza, or haven’t thought much about the economics of buying food, or they are on a deep discounted special, and can be had for $10 or less.
So yes, two slices will probably fill you up. That said, there is still 3/4 of a pizza in the room, and overeating on pizza becomes a very easy thing to do.
The very large pizzas you see are made specifically to sell by the slice. People almost never buy an entire pizza that size, and, in fact, I don’t think pizza boxes come in that size.
In NJ, a single pizza slice sometimes needs two and even three paper plates
I’ve been to Italy and had pizza in Napoli. Their pizzas are more of what Americans would consider personal size. There are pizzas of a lot of different sizes in America and some of them are huge. So they can be that big but it depends.
Authentic NY pizza often comes in enormous, foldable slices. Fast food pizza is often much smaller.
They can be anywhere from 25 to 90 centimeters across.
The dough can be as thin as 2-3mm in New York to 25+mm elsewhere, but I think that variation would be less surprising… Napolitan vs Sicilian.
I have definitely grabbed a jumbo slice late at night when walking from a music venue to the metro, when all the regular restaurants have closed their kitchens.
In DC we have Jumbo Slice where the pie is so big a single slice feeds 2 people (or one really drunk person).
It depends. Pizza varies in quality calories and price. I can get them in the 8-10 inch small all the way up to 17-20 inches for large/extra large. It also matters how much the dough gets stretched.
There is a local pizza place called pizza rox that uses high quality 00 flour and sizes the dough so pizzas are pretty close to being an eat the whole thing in one meal or eat half of the slices and bring the other two home/share but a similarly sized Pizza from some of the big chains is going to be a lot more (cheaper) ap/bread flour dough with more oil/butter involved for many more calories. Meanwhile Costco sells a giant 18 inch pizza absolutely covered in pepperoni that is sized for a family at like 10$