Foodies Flock To Old World Pepperoni℠ And Spark Heated Pepperoni Pizza Debate

Friday, March 1, 2019

And Spark Heated Pepperoni Pizza Debate (NAPSA)—Pepperoni is America’s most popular pizza topping, with 53 percentlisting it as one of their top 3 favorites, according to a YouGovsurvey. Most Americans know only one kind of pepperoni:flat and quite chewy. Now, there's fandom brewing fora differentstyle ofpepperoniwith its crispy, bold-flavored cups knownas Old World Pepperoni. Various outlets, both new andtraditional, have pickeduponthis trend. From the Wall Street Journalto the online pub- lication, Kitchen Rally, pizza lovers have begunto further explore the differences between the two pepperonistyles while Thecrispy, curling cups of genuine Old World Pepperoni adds a nice spicy touchtopizza. natural casing; when thatcasing cooks down, asking which slice is superior. While the sightofcurling, crispypepper- in the oven,it causes the slices to cup up and oni cups has long beeneasy to see in places crisp alongtheedges, providinga far crispier such as Buffalo andacross Ohio, therise of foodie influencers put Old World Pepper- texture anda bolderflavor. Gray noticed an increase over the past. onionthe mapnationwide. OnInstagram, couple years in how often Marco's custhe hashtag ‘fronicups’ returns more than tomers add Old World Pepperoni to their 6,000 posts with thousands oflikes. Users are drawnto theaesthetic of curled up, bright red andglistening pepperoni slices. Pizza makers are taking notice of this trend. DarrenGray, seniordirector ofmenu and culinary innovation for Marcos Pizza,estimates the brandwill place 231 million slices of Old World Pepperoni onits pizza in 2019. Marco's Pizza, named Most Loved. Pizza Brandaccording to the 2019 Har- ris Poll EquiTrendStudy, has offered both styles of pepperonifor the better part of a decade. Gray notedthatthe restaurant's Pepperoni Magnificopizza,features both types of pepperoni and is among the mostpopular items on the menu. “I's a pepperonilover's dream—those crispy cupsgive you a completely differenttexture,’ Graysaid.“It’s meat candy.” Gray describes the key differences orders. Helikensthe trend to the growing popularity ofanotherpork offering. “Americans are developing more ofa palate for bolderflavors,just lookat the rise ofpopularity in applewood-smoked bacon?Gray said. “Old World Pepper- oni is the closest you'll cometo bacon in acuredItalian meat” Gray believes the movementin favor ofbolderflavorsis more than just fad. Instead, he viewsthis as a sign of Amer- icans developing a more mature and curiouspalate. Gray notes Marco's Pizza is benefiting from a growingdesire to move away from processed foods since eachofthe brand’s restaurants makesits dough from scratch daily, uses freshly cut produce and mixesherbsandspices into the sauce in-store every day. “The trend toward spicier products andflavors continuesto be on the rise— spicygarlic as an example?hesaid. “Old ficial casing.Thisis less expensive than nat- World Pepperoniis not necessarily hot butthere is a kick andit definitely has a bolderflavor” been more prevalentin pizzerias across the yourself, go to marcos.com or down- between the twostyles this way:traditional lay-flatpepperoni sausages comein anarti- ural casing, which helps explainwhyit’s long country. Old World Pepperoni comes in a To try Old World Pepperoni for load theapp.

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