Pizza is one of the world’s most popular foods.
In the United States, 350 slices are eaten every second, while 40 percent of Americans eat pizza at least once a week.
There’s a reason pizza is so popular. Humans are drawn to foods that are fatty, sweet, rich and complex. Pizza has all of these components. Cheese is fatty, meat toppings tend to be rich and the sauce is sweet.
Pizza toppings are also packed with a compound called glutamate, which can be found in the tomatoes, cheese, pepperoni and sausage. When glutamate hits our tongues, it tells our brains to get excited — and to crave more of it. This compound actually causes our mouths to water in anticipation of the next bite.
Then there are the combinations of ingredients. Cheese and tomato sauce are like a perfect pairing. On their own, they taste pretty good. But according to culinary scientists, they contain flavor compounds that taste even better when eaten together.
Another quality of pizza that makes it so delicious: Its ingredients become brown while cooking in the oven.
Foods turn brown and crispy when we cook them because of two chemical reactions.
The first is called caramelization, which happens when the sugars in a food become brown. Most foods contain at least some sugar; once foods are between 230 degrees and 320 degrees, their sugars begin to turn brown. Caramel is made from several thousand compounds, making it one of the most complex food products. On a pizza, ingredients such as onions and tomatoes become caramelized during baking, making them rich, sweet and flavorful. That brown and crispy crust is also the result of the dough caramelizing.
While the meat and cheese on your pizza also get brown, this is due to a different process called the “Maillard reaction,” which is named after French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard.
The Maillard reaction occurs when the amino acids in high-protein foods such as cheese and pepperoni react with the sugars in those foods when heated. Pepperoni that becomes crispy with curled edges, and cheese that browns and bubbles, are examples of the Maillard reaction.
With bread, cheese and tomato sauce as its base, pizza might seem like a simple food.
It isn’t. And the next time you’re about to devour a slice, you’ll be able to appreciate all of the elements of pizza that excite our brains, thrill our taste buds and cause our mouths to water.
Miller is an associate professor of hospitality management at Colorado State University. This article was originally published on theconversation.com.
FAQs
Pizza is a beloved food that brings us joy, and now it turns out that we have science to thank for it! Eating pizza can cause a real good-feeling chemical, dopamine, to be released in our brains. This chemical helps us feel pleasure and reward when eating delicious food like pizza.
What is the chemistry reaction of pizza? ›
That is the Maillard reaction, named after the French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard. This reaction occurs when amino acids in high-protein foods react with the sugar when heated. On pizza, this reaction happens in cheese and meats like pepperoni.
Why is pizza the most loved food? ›
Pizza is one of the most popular foods in the world for a variety of reasons. It is relatively cheap and easy to make, it is versatile, convenient, and can be customized to suit different tastes. Pizza is also a social food and comfort food that evokes happy memories for many people.
Why do people like the taste of pizza? ›
Pizza contains a large amount of glutamate. When you ingest foods with umami, receptors in your mouth bind with glutamate and two other compounds, inosinate and guanylate.
What is the science behind pizza? ›
Yeast, a leavening agent, makes the dough rise. A living, single-celled plant from the fungi family, it ferments (digests) sugars and starches. Fermentation causes the dough to rise by trapping gas bubbles inside it. It also makes the dough more pliable and easy to maneuver.
Is pizza a chemical change? ›
Cooking a pizza includes many chemical and physical changes. Some water evaporates (physical change), the crust browns (a bunch of chemical reactions).
Is pizza a mixture in chemistry? ›
Pizza is made up of lots of different compounds (called chemicals in the world of chemistry) found in the compositions of cheese, sauce, meats, and vegetables, etc. So pizza is not a compound. It is a mixture of a lot of things like dough, sauce, meat, veggies, cheese, etc.
Is pizza the #1 food in the world? ›
Pizza tops the list of the most popular foods in the world. Every year, people consume around 5 billion pizzas. Moreover, this open-faced sandwich, tops the list of most photographed foods.
Who loves pizza the most? ›
Key Findings: The West Coast turns out to be highly pizza obsessed: Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland claimed the top 3 spots on our list. New York and Chicago aren't slipping, though – both traditional pizza capitals ranked within the top 10 most pizza-loving cities.
What age likes pizza the most? ›
A study done by a U.S. Department of Agriculture statistician and home economist found that in a three-day survey period, 42% of children between the ages of 6 and 11 had eaten pizza. (Source: Smithsonian Magazine.) Approximately 3 BILLION pizzas are sold in the U.S. each year.
What's the healthiest pizza to eat? There are plenty of pizza choices that can be considered healthy. Some options that can easily fit into a nutritious and balanced diet include a thin-crust pizza and a cauliflower-crust pizza. Topping choices on the more nutritious side are vegetables, chicken, shrimp and cheese.
Why is pizza so addictive? ›
“It delivers on the food matrix that people tend to crave and want, and feeds the brain, which says 'this is just wonderful. ' “ “It's the Holy Trinity of crust, cheese and sauce that really accentuates that whole umami thing,” said Bill DeJournett, managing editor of PMQ Pizza Magazine.
Why do Americans love pizza? ›
Easily customized and perfect for sharing, pizza's strengths are plain to see. According to The Washington Post, people love pizza because of its “fatty, sweet, rich and complex” nature. The outlet also noted that 350 slices of pizza are eaten every second in the U.S. Even scientists acknowledge pizza's power.
What is pizza best classified as in chemistry? ›
Pizza is a heterogeneous mixture. A heterogeneous mixture is a mixture in which the components are not evenly distributed throughout the mixture. This means that the different components of pizza, such as the sauce, cheese, and toppings, can be easily distinguished from each other.
What is the chemistry reaction in cooking? ›
Maillard reaction produces flavour and aroma during cooking process; and it is used almost everywhere from the baking industry to our day to day life to make food tasty. It is often called nonenzymatic browning reaction since it takes place in the absence of enzyme.
What happens to a pizza during chemical digestion? ›
The amylase enzymes in the saliva break down the complex carbohydrates in the pizza into simple sugars. Pepsin, produced in the stomach helps break down proteins present in cheese into amino acids. Pancreatic lipase, produced in the pancreas is used to break apart fats present in cheese.
What is the chemical reaction of food? ›
When foods are being processed or cooked at high temperature, chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars leads to the formation of Maillard reaction products (MRPs). Depending on the way the food is being processed, both beneficial and toxic MRPs can be produced.
