Fun Food Facts!

Americans eat nearly 100 acres of pizza every day - that's approximately 350 slices per second!

It's impossible to date the first pizza, since it was never made as such, but rather evolved over thousands of years. Considered a peasant's meal in Italy for centuries, modern pizza is attributed to Raffaele Esposito of Napoli (Naples). In 1889, Esposito baked pizza especially for the visit of Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. He covered the humble rounds of dough with lots of tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil. The pizza was very patriotic and looked like the Italian flag with its colours of green (basil), white (mozzarella), and red (tomatoes). The queen was impressed and this pizza was named the Pizza Margherita. Now Naples is known as the pizza capital of the world. In 1830 the world's first true pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port' Alba, opened and is still in business today in Naples. However, the first pizzeria in America didn't open until 1905 on Spring Street in Manhattan - that's 75 years later.

Fast foods, such as pizza and hamburgers, are also known as ‘junk food’ because they have a high-calorie content and not much nutritional value. However, pizza and hamburgers that you prepare yourself at home with fresh ingredients can be a healthier option. Eating only a few unhealthy foods and a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.

Fruit and vegetables taste great and contain a lot of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. To stay fit and healthy, you need to eat a balanced diet which includes fruit and vegetables every day. Different coloured fruit and vegies have different health benefits so try to have as many different colours as you can. By the way, in its ancient form, the carrot was purple, not orange!