According to Mrs. Uncle John, pizza—bread, tomatoes, and cheese—is the perfect food. But in many countries, that’s not how it’s made. Here is some food trivia, featuring pizza from around the world.
South Korea
Among the most popular varieties of pizza in Korea are those featuring potatoes. The dough, made with a potato-based crust, is topped with sweet-potato mousse and sour cream (instead of tomato sauce), bacon, and potato wedges.
Iceland
Italian-style pizza is popular there, but not topped with mozzarella cheese. Icelanders prefer cream cheese and blue cheese.
Brazil
A thick layer of pizza sauce is unusual. Instead, a very thin layer is used and, more often, none at all. Popular toppings include sliced tomatoes, peas, and bananas.
Finland
There are more than 200 outlets of the Kotipizza chain in Finland. Its most popular topping is smoked reindeer, which is called the Pizza Berlusconi after Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who, in 2005, visited Finland and remarked that he had to “endure” Finnish food such as marinated reindeer.
Turkey
The closest thing to pizza in Turkey is a flatbread dish called lahmacun—a round, thin piece of baked dough topped with minced lamb, parsley, and lemon juice.
South Africa
It looks like the usual pizza, except for the tomato sauce—it’s blisteringly spicy. The most popular pizza toppings in South Africa: bananas and minced pork.
India
The country’s residents are predominantly Hindu, and don’t eat meat. The Western-style pizza is popular, but pepperoni and sausage as toppings are not. Indian pizza eaters prefer baby corn, pickled ginger, and tofu.
Norway
What country’s citizens eat the most pizza, per capita? Norway. Except that it’s frozen pizza. More than 24 million frozen pizzas are sold to Norway’s five million residents each year. The most popular brand is Grandiosa, introduced in 1980. Grandiosa is so beloved that a commercial jingle for the frozen pizza has topped the Norwegian pop chart…twice.
This article was originally published in Uncle John’s Canoramic Bathroom Reader.