I was so excited to get in touch with Scott Wiener, who's the ultimate pizza guy: a historian, a pizza box collector, host of the show Really Dough?, and founder of Slice Out Hunger and NYC pizza tours. His business Scott's Pizza Tours offers walking tours, bus tours, private tours, and even online pizza classes.
Wiener is also a World Record holder. He has the world's largest collection of pizza boxes, according to Guinness World Records, and even wrote a book about the art of the pizza box, Viva La Pizza. Scott is also the founder of Slice Out Hunger, a charity that funds hunger relief efforts in the U.S.
Truly, I thought, there is no other person more suited to chat about the art of pizza than Scott Wiener. First, I was really curious to know his thoughts about why pizza has us all in such a chokehold. In 2016, the Picky Eater Blog analyzed the most popular cuisines and meal types in the world based on Instagram tags. The first place, naturally, went to Italy and the pizza.
"Pizza is the great equalizer," Scott Wiener tells us. "Everyone has access to it and it's a food that adapts to any cuisine or cultural tradition. It's also a really fun low-stakes high-passion conversation topic. We can argue about it all day without ruining a friendship."
Another great thing about pizza is that it's the perfect comfort food. "Pizza's also that food we attach to important celebratory moments all the way back to childhood," Scott tells us. "It's a comfort food that's nostalgic but also perfectly acceptable in just about any social setting.
"One of pizza’s strongest characteristics is the fact that there isn’t a single agreed-upon recipe for it," Scott says. "Its boundaries are loose so we can customize it however we want while still making what we call "pizza." Not many foods [are] like that!"
Wiener founded Scott's Pizza Tours in 2008, but he has been a fan of pizza long before that. During his many years as a pizza expert, he's seen many a weird pizza topping. "I’ve had SO many weird pizzas," he tells Bored Panda. "I often judge the non-traditional category at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas and there are wild topping combinations there. I've had peanut butter, elk, alligator, seaweed, and even edible flowers on a pizza."
Scott was also a host for the YouTube series Really Dough? He took on the role of a pizza enthusiast while his co-host Marc Lacono was the pizza purist. "[It was] all about weird pizzas," Scott tells us. "I ate a ramen pizza, a 24-karat gold pizza, and a pizza donut."
