How is a single slice of pizza enough?

37 comments

1. A few things:

   1. Bigger pizzas. A slice of 16” pizza is equal to multiple slices of a 10”, which I imagine is about the size of your own personal pizza in Italy.

   2. Tv lies. When I order pizza, I usually have 3-4 slices myself.

   3. We eat things in conjunction with pizza. We’re also eating wings and/or breadsticks.

2. People in movies don’t eat a lot because we don’t want the actors to have to eat over and over again in case the scene has to be redone due to bad lighting or someone making a mistake.

3. Our pizzas are bigger

4. I definitely agree. The portrayal of one pizza for 4-5 people on TV isn’t realistic in America. A family of 4 will likely order 2 or 3.

5. I calculate 3-4 slices per person.

6. In Italian movies, do they show people eating a single slice or an entire pizza?

7. Actors very rarely eat during scenes because of how many takes they do. Why would set design stage more pizza than necessary?

   I would say that 1 slice being satisfactory is only for people who eat very little or who eat many meals more often in the day.

   Also depends on the place. A single slice in some places can be as big as a head, roughly the same a a 8-9 in pizza.

8. I delivered 10 large Domino’s pizza every week for my wife’s robotics team before traveling to competitions(or practice) for the last 3 months. I think they would eat the cardboard after the pizza runs out if she let them.

9. One slice is enough for me usually, but pizzas here come in different sizes and if you’re ordering for a group, you usually get big ones. One or two slices of those is probably about the same amount as your smaller individual pizzas.

10. In places that serve pizza by the slice, a slice pie is goddamn enormous.

    What’s a “slice pie?” you might ask. A slice pie is a pizza that’s intended to be sold by the slice.

    It’s the largest pizza that can physically fit in the oven, whether that’s a traditional coal-fired brick thing or a more modern conveyor-belt oven.

    In the US, pizza is often sold for delivery, but there is no delivery box that will hold a slice pie. You’d need a pickup truck or a large SUV to transport it flat, anyway.

    There are special slice boxes that will hold these enormous slices for delivery, but they’re usually only sold as takeout.

    [Each slice is about the size of a personal-size pizza](https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2019/03/pizza-folding_GettyImages-911119101-1024×691.jpg).

    There is historical context around pizza-by-the-slice vs pizza-by-the-pie that dates to organized crime in the early 20th century. One of Al Capone’s biggest rackets was pizza cheese.

    You could write a dissertation about pizza in the US honestly.

11. First of all, our pizzas are usually much bigger. You are also watching movies, works of fiction, they don’t usually show every single minutia of everyday life unless you are watching some kind of weird niche arthouse film. I could eat an entire pizza, but even a medium pizza is like 1500-2000 calories. That’s not something that most people are going to sit down and eat on their own. It’s also not uncommon to get sides like breadsticks or wings to go along with pizza, so that accounts for part of the meal.

12. I lived in Italy. There, whenever I ordered a pizza, I could usually finish 3/4 of it, sometimes all if I was really hungry. In the US at best I could finish maybe half a typical takeout pizza, but usually just 2-3 slices. On average the pizza crust is thicker in the US, and the slices themselves are somewhat bigger.

13. Actors in movies do multiple takes for a scene. They’d be eating 20 pieces of pizza in reality. Movies are NOT real life and I cannot stress this enough.

14. [our slices are bigger than your entire pizzas](https://i.imgur.com/8oakaiT.jpg)

15. Pizza in Italy has always seemed like a flatbread with toppings rather than a proper pizza that has some substance to it.

16. Reminds me of elementary school “pizza parties” where 28 kids split 2-3 pizzas.

17. It’s not. It never has been.

18. American pizzas are large.

    TV isn’t real life.

    >Don’t you stay hungry?

    For a snack a 250 calorie slice is enough.

19. If I’m going to that pizza place in the strip mall down the block, their single slice is about the size of your head with two cans of soda for $6.

    Yeah, it’s plenty.

20. This depends very much on the pizza and the person. I can eat an entire DiGiorno pizza by myself, but as far as I know I’m not being recorded to need possibly multiple takes in a scene for TV or a movie.

    Also, in the first *Home Alone* movie Kevin’s dad orders ten(?) pizzas for over a dozen people. That right there blows your theory down.

21. We usually buy enough for each person to have 3 to 4 slices. So for 5 people I would order 3 or 4 pizzas.

22. For starters, pizzas in the US can be as much as 45cm in diameter. Pizzas in Italy are what… 25cm? 30? Our pizzas are 2-3x the size by area.

    It’s common in the US to order pizza *by the slice* but that doesn’t necessarily mean you just have *one.*

    Want just one as a small bite? Go for it. Want 2? Order 2. 3? Knock yourself out.

23. I’m probably only having one or two slices at a time these days. Some of our slices are nearly the size of your personal pies.

24. If I’m buying pizza by the slice from a pizzeria, I expect that slice to be a little smaller than a typical personal pizza would be in Italy. If they’re especially small, maybe two slices would be the size of that Italian pizza.

    Place down the street from me sells pizza by the slice. I usually get one slice of pizza because 2 is way too much food. I’d consider these medium sized for by-the-slice pizza. One is not quite enough, but it’s easy to have it with other food.

25. A slice of pizza is a quick lunch. It isn’t supposed to be a full course dinner.

    In most of the US its actually really difficult to order a single slice of pizza outside of lunch hours. Our central business district relies on office workers and tourists to pump up lunch time, but its common for these shops to only do by-the-slice during lunch. Rest of the day its sit down service for whole pies.

    Obvious exception is places like NYC where there’s just tons of people and restaurants can still make $$ by selling slices.

26. Usually I’ll eat 2 or 3 slices, but thebpie is usually 16 or 18 inches which is far larger than your pizzas, and a thicker crust than you are used to.
    Check out how many 8 inch [pizzas](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5827143015d5dbb8580e801a/1478976951543-C357SUQODR2QZMOO1VQK/image-asset.png?format=1000w)there are in an 18… it isn’t two.
    If youbare eating a 16 inch pie yourself I don’t ever want to hear about American portion sizes being too large ever again.

27. Sometimes a big dollar slice is just enough to keep me going for a couple hours. I wouldn’t call it dinner so much as a quick bite

28. Pizzas are bigger here. But a lot of people will have 1-3 slices and a side

29. Tv is not real life

30. On average, one standard large pizza here feeds three people an entire meal. That’s about three slices per person. But of course it depends on the person and the pizza.

    If it’s a bunch of teenage boys who just came from football practice, you’re going to need more. If it’s three old ladies who weigh 100 pounds (45 kg) each, you will have more than enough with one large pizza.

    And it depends on the type of pizza. Most normal people aren’t going to eat three pieces (it’s an understatement to call them slices) of Chicago deep dish pizza. One piece can be 2 inches (50 cm) or more thick and very heavy. It’s like a pizza brick. Two of those is plenty for most people and maybe even too much.

31. You are getting wrong information from a source that rarely gets it right. We eat more than just one slice, trust me.

32. People are being so snarky here. This guy is asking a question in good faith. Sorry, OP. The only movies scenes I can think of with pizza are Home Alone 1 and Home Alone 2 and those are definitely your standard American pizzas. Just because movies and tv are fiction doesn’t mean you can’t get a sense of certain things.

33. 1. Pizzas are typically massive here.

    2. People typically eat 2 or 3 slices with light eaters just eating one and big eaters maybe eating 4 or 5. If you are ordering for a group and know how much they tend to eat and how many people you have, you adjust how many pizzas you order accordingly. Ordering 2 or 3 pizzas for a group of 6 is pretty normal.

34. When will people stop asking questions on this sub based upon movies and tv? That’s a terrible representation of anything

35. I’m a small female. I rarely can eat more than two slices…

    Even in Italy I didn’t finish a full pizza.

    Keep in mind the pizza here is meant to share with others and is large

    Also, PLEASE STOP TAKING EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON TV AS FACT!!!!! You Europeans believe everything you see holy shit

36. I’ve had pizza in Italy and, of course, here. An Italian crust pizza served in a restaurant is extremely thin and has fewer toppings. Here pizza has more of everything plus the crust is thicker so one slice from a large pizza can be a whole meal.

37. American pizzas are way bigger. Especially in NYC, where people often just grab a single slice for a meal, that slice is almost as big as an entire pizza in Italy.