In the second Pizza Bite from Eating History, Adrienne and Stephen tackle America’s undisputed favorite pizza topping: pepperoni. From the surprising reality of ordering "peperoni" in Italy to its mysterious origins in early 20th-century New York, they explore how an Italian-American community creation transformed into a national culinary staple.

In this episode:

• Why ordering a "pepperoni" pizza in Naples will get you a pie covered in bell peppers

• The 1919 debut of the word and its evolution from Southern Italian cured meat traditions

• The culinary science behind why pepperoni’s high fat content and paprika make it the perfect pizza topping

• The earliest documentation of a pepperoni pizza at The Spot in New Haven, Connecticut

• How post-WWII expansion turned this Italian-American invention into the default topping for one out of every three pizzas in America