Easy Pepperoni Pizza Casserole

History of pepperoni:

Despite being thought of as an Italian meat, bright red meat product is actually as Italian-American as chicken parm!

The origin of pepperoni is an adaptation of other spicy sausage recipes, made with the ingredients that were available at the time in America.

The first known mention of pepperoni occurred in 1919, in New York City. At this time, the topping began to appear in a number of Italian delis and pizzerias across Lower Manhattan.

“Until about the ‘50s, it was considered an ethnic Italian dish.” The commercialization of the gas pizza oven, veterans returning from the Second World War, and the beginning of media coverage of pizza all converged and began to popularize the dish” says pizza scholar, historian, author of New Haven Apizza, and tour operator Colin Caplan. (source)

In modern Italy, the word “pepperoni” is often used when talking about bell peppers—so if you order “pepperoni pizza” in a part of Italy that doesn’t get a lot of tourists, you may be in for a surprise!