World Record Pizzas

Unless this is your very first time on our website (in which case, Hello, so glad you could join us!), you are probably already aware that we’ve been quite occupied with both world records and pizza.

We thought it was high time to combine our two current obsessions, so today we bring you World Records: Pizza Edition!

To start, we’d like to introduce you to Mr. Tony Gemignani, who holds the world record for Largest Pizza Base Spun in 2 Minutes, at 84.33cm. He's also the first American to become World Champion Pizza Maker at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, back in 2007.

His San Francisco pizzeria, Tony's Pizza Napoletana, offers nine different regional styles of pizza (Neopolitan, New York, Sicilian, Californian and Coal-Fired New Haven among them), and he keeps a range of ovens – electric, gas, coal-fired and wood-burning – set at varying temperatures ranging from 550 to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit so he can produce pies at the highest levels of taste and authenticity. Their menu is like a golden textbook of cheesier, doughier learning (is "doughier" a word?).

We realize it’s kind of mean to draw your attention to world-class pizza six thousand miles away, but a USA Today article raves that it’s worth a pilgrimage, calling it “the most unique and comprehensive pizzeria in the nation, if not the world.” So, next time you’re in the Bay Area, you know where to go.

Now, on to other pizza-related world records:

Most Expensive Pizza – GBP 100 (that’s RMB 1,017) at Gordon Ramsey’s Maze Restaurant
Longest Pizza – 1,141.5m in Tornelloso, Spain.
Largest Calzone – Weighed 31.4 kilos and made at Loveshack (baby, loveshack!) restaurant in Indiana, USA
Most Pizza Rolls Across the Shoulders in 30 Seconds – Also by Mr. Gemignani, 37 rolls
Most Pizzas Made in One Hour – 206 at a Domino’s Pizza in Ohio, USA
Most Pizzas Made in 24 Hours (Team) – 6,838 at a Domino’s Pizza in California, USA
Highest Pizza Toss – 6.5m on a Food Network taping in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Longest Pizza Delivery – from Madrid, Spain to Wellington, New Zealand. Hope they liked cold pizza.
Largest Pizza Delivery – 13,500 by Papa John’s in San Diego, California
Fastest Time to Eat a 12” Pizza – 1 min 45.37 sec, by a Kiwi ... can you beat it?

And my personal favorites:

First Video Game Pizza Delivery System – In EverQuest II: players type “/pizza”, Pizza Hut comes running. Genius.
Largest Collection of Pizza-Related Items – One Mr. Brian Dwyer with 561 items – including a tattoo.

So, readers, who in Beijing do you think stands a chance at beating one of these world records? Could Gung-Ho outpace Domino’s? Can Sureño devise a pizza worth more than Gordon Ramsey’s? Wouldn’t it be smashing to claim one of these records for our fair city? Leave a comment below with your ideas for Beijing’s most likely candidates.

Though few can rival our friend Brian Dwyer’s pizzaphilia, we trust we’re drumming up enough fervor to keep cheese on the brain for weeks to come. If you haven’t named your favorites for the final draw, do so before Nov 14 for a chance to win a pizza party for you and your friends. And of course, if you have yet to vote in Round One, what are you waiting for?

And if all you’re craving now is a slice of comforting mediocrity from one of Beijing’s pizza delivery chains (not included in the Pizza Cup), let our September “Pizza Your Mind” Taste Test be your guide ...

Photos: Guinness World Records