How pizza cracked America (pt 1).

How do you tempt Americans away from their corn dogs, funnel cakes, and cheez-whiz and instead try a new, funky ‘ethnic’ food?

It’s even harder if the year is 1905.

This was a challenge some of the 4 million Italians who immigrated to the USA at the turn of the century had with pizza.

How do you persuade a boiled-meat-and-potatoes crowd to try this bizarre, foreign doughy, tomatoey, cheesy disk? Here’s how:

You give it a familiar name. A desirable name. A name with positive baggage.

You call it: pizza pie.

Ever wondered why many northeastern states call pizza a “pie”? Well, there’s your reason. The many Italian immigrants who moved to New York and New Jersey were trying to frame their food in comfortable, desirable terms.

And it seems to have worked out well. Within 4 minutes, Pizza Hut, Little Caesars and Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe swept the nation*

*ok, maybe it’s just one slice of how pizza conquered America, but it’s a big, wood-fired slice of the story.

It serves to remind Sellouts that if you are flogging something completely alien to your audience, look to a familiar category with positive baggage for a lifeline.