World Championship of Pizza Making

Pizza makers from across the world show off their skill in this unique competition. Photo from here.

A youn man competing the Freestyle Acrobatics First Division. Photo from here.

Yes! There is actually a competition for pizza making! And they take it really seriously! Like there is a set of rules and everything! The latest competition was on March 2^nd and 3^rd of 2011. The competition was in Salsomaggiore Terme in northern Italy, like every other year. It has been around for seven years. People from all over the world come to compete for the $1,000 prize (per category)! The five categories are Freestyle Acrobatics (First Division or Master Division), Fastest Dough, Largest Stretch, Fastest Box Folding, and Longest Spin. Anyone can compete, but the entering fee for each category is $50, except for the Freestyle Acrobatics Master Division: $100, so you might not want to enter just for fun. In the Freestyle Acrobatics competition, First Division or Master Division, pizza makers perform a five-minute acrobatic dough tossing routine to the music of their choice and they are permitted to eighty ounces of dough! The Fastest Dough competition is to see who can toss out five doughs to cover five pizza screen in the shortest amount of time. In the Largest Stretch competition, the pizza makers are given eighteen ounces of dough try to toss the largest dough in five minutes. The largest measurement wins.  The Fastest Box Folding competition, the pizza makers are given five 12” pizza boxes. They compete to properly fold the boxes in the fastest time. The Longest Spin competition is to see who can spin an eighteen-ounce dough over their head, using one hand and in the traditional pizza throwing stance, for as long as possible. As you can tell, this is a very interesting competition. In a way, isn’t this just hilarious? Hopefully this competition will happen next year!

"Toucan Sam"

For more information, click here.