Celebrate with Pizza on National Deep Dish Day

If you ask the True Neapolitan Pizza Association (Associazione Verace Pizza napoletana (AVPN)), there is only one correct way to make a pizza. Devoted to preserving “authentic” pizza, the AVPN has a set of International Regulations that dictate exactly how a pizza should be made: 30-35cm in diameter with a soft and elastic texture and a crust that has a raised edge, swollen and free from burns. Acknowledging only a specific set of ingredients and a distinct preparation style, AVPN is very particular about what they consider “Pizza”.

However, outside of the AVPN, pizza is one of the most diverse foods on the planet. From thin crust to pan pizza, wood fired to coal fired, and everything in between, the pizza possibilities are endless. And we haven’t even talked about toppings! But of all the styles of pizza out there in the world, few if any are more iconic than the monstrous pies that come out of Chicago. If there’s one thing Chicago’s known for, it’s deep dish.

Kansas City may claim the barbecue crown and Los Angeles may have the taco game on lock, but nobody does deep dish pizza like Chicago. For a while, literally no one did deep dish pizza EXCEPT for Chicago. Although some of the particulars around its origins are still unclear, there’s no debating who first served up these Chicagoan creations. Pizzeria Uno was first to offer deep dish pizza in 1943. While many credit Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo with inventing and popularizing the now-famous deep dish style, Uno’s original head chef Rudy Malnati may have been integral in creating these mammoth pies, as well.

Now, nearly 75 years since the first deep dish pizza was served, Pizzeria Uno has exploded into a nationwide chain: Uno Pizzeria & Grill. And even though the city is now full of deep dish spots, tourists still flock to the original Pizzeria Uno on 29 E Ohio St. to get a fresh slice where it all began.

All this pizza talk has gotten our mouths watering… anybody else? Cure those pizza cravings with this delicious deep dish recipe from Tasty, perfect for National Deep Dish Pizza Day (April 5).