Did you know that we eat 350 slices of pizza every second in the United States? Recently, I read a book called “Pizza! A Slice of History” by Greg Pizzoli. The book is about the history of pizza and the different styles around the world. I wanted to try different pizzas from the book, so I decided to create a pizza passport. A Pizza Passport is a booklet with the names of places, both national and international, that have different ways of making pizza. When you eat one, you get a stamp or sticker.

The restaurants I ate at were: Lou Malnati’s, Grimaldi’s, and Avasa. The Chicago deep dish from Lou Malnati’s was thick and had big, juicy tomatoes. The New York style from Grimaldi’s was thin, and it had fresh mozzarella. The Indian pizza from Avasa had blocks of paneer cheese, green and red bell peppers, and onion.

My favorite pizza was Detroit-style from a place called Jet’s Pizza in Tempe. We ordered the pizza to go. The box was rectangular, and I presumed it was cooked in a square tray. It smelled cheesy and made my mouth water. It smelled fresh and felt greasy. The crust was hard and well done. It was thinner than the Chicago but thicker than the New York style. When I tasted it, I thought it had the perfect ratio of sauce to cheese. The cheese was chewy, and the sauce was umami. That is why Detroit style is my favorite. I recommend the book “Pizza! A Slice of History” and figuring out where your favorite pizza comes from.