I am 100% Italian and always had home made pizza which my Dad usually made. He was also the bread maker in the family. MMMM good.

About the same time you did....I was either a junior or senior in High School. My friends and I went to a newly opened pizza parlor for lunch. Like dedtired, I really didn't like it all that much and mostly ate everyone's crusts. What was I thinking?!!

My first pizza when I was really young was the Chef Boyardee pizza. I think it was when I was about 12 my friend's Mom made real homemade pizza and then when we were about 14 we started having delivery pizza, haha I remember when my group of girlfriends would order it after rollerskating and we would always order a cheese, bacon and mushroom pizza because they were not very adventurous to order other toppings. My friend Marybeth didn't like the toppings at all so scraped them off and just ate the crust. If my girlfriends were over my Dad would always surprise us and bring home a pizza. I made homemade pizza and if I am lazy I just put the toppings on a big tortilla and have a thin crispy pizza for one

My kids make pizza from scratch, and one or two have a pizza stone. I got pizzaed out from all the pizzas after soccer, Little League, and baseball. Now I like one every now and then.

My boyfriend and I, and another couple were double dating. Drove about 45 minutes to a pizza place called DiCarlos. I wasn't thrilled with it. 2nd time was on our senior trip to NYC. I still wasn't over joyed with it. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I've started to like it. If that was what the grandkids were having for their birthday meals, I'd eat before I went.

chisue, if you like thin crust pizza try the frozen Primo margaretta ( 3 large in box) at Costco. The crust is more like a tortilla , the topping is great, nice chunky pieces of tomato lots of flavor. I think they cost about $12 a box.

My mom used to create english muffin pizza in early 1950 . Halved muffins toasted topped with highly seasoned tomtoes , some kind of cheese on top to melt under broiler.

In the late 50s was my first experience eating pizza. I've always thought it was funny that it was at a Mexican restaurant. Possibly the best pizza I have ever had. It was huge, had anchovies and the stringiest, most wonderful Mozzarella in the word on it. And hot, hot, hot with heat right out of the oven. Had to be taught how to eat it. I lived in West Texas and there were no Italian eateries in existence at that time so many years ago.

I don't recall my first taste of pizza, but have worked in pizza joints for at least 10 years (mostly between marriages).

I make it all myself. The dough is my own recipe that was initially learned at Rosati's. The same with the sauce, only I usually use my own San Marzano tomatoes. Those are sort of a chunky sauce, not like what comes from a can. I tried to make the cheese and that was a failure.

I do have my own stone and peel. I still grow my own oregano and basil. I haven't been able to get decent onions or garlic out of my garden in Florida, but I will continue to try.

The missus had several women to the house and she asked me to make pizzas. I surprised the women and asked them what they wanted. I worked from their suggestions and they swooned!

I really can't remember - it seems like we always had pizza takeout, although it was an infrequent treat -- I just looked up the name of the place we loved and it opened in 1954.

My mother would also get the Chef Boyardee kits from time to time. Not nearly as good as the takeout, but not awful!

There are actually several frozen pizzas that I quite like. I used to adore Digiorno's Spinach, mushroom and garlic but haven't had it for a long time -- others have displaced it, like a couple of Kroger's varieties, since I prefer a thinner crust. They are different and not as good as my favorite takeout, but do tend to be less greasy which I like and still very tasty -- I tend to add vegetables (eggplant, spinach, zucchini, mushrooms etc) to them at home.

Mid 60's I was around 8 years old, my aunt had a large laundramat and I spent weekends with her...up at the corner of the block in my small country town was a newly opened pizza shop, Harry's Pizza, sold by the slice, hot and bubbly..Yum. it was gone a few years later but I can still taste it and have never found pizza as good.

Since my father could never decide pizza's role (too much for an appetizer, too little for a meal), we never ate it at home.

My friend's mom made boxed Appian Way and I thought it was the most illicit thing I'd ever eaten:)

I grew up in a city with a very large Italian population so there were pizza places around. My mother made us English muffin pizzas as well. When I was in high school we would go to the local pizza place after basketball games. I still dream about that pizza. That was in the late 50s.

There were no pizza places any where around my hometown . At some point in time the lunch ladies made "pizza" it was dough spread out on big rectangular jelly roll pans then topped with tomato sauce and cheese sometimes it had sausage . I didn't have real restaurant pizza till I was in high school and went to the bigger towns with friends . When I was in college we went a lot because it was directly across from our dorm.

I was around 10 or 11. '61/'62. There was a pizza parlor in the same center as the roller rink. Practically lived at the rink. A friend and I would go over and share a small pizza and a pitcher of root beer. Root beer was the soda that went with pizza. LOL Those early days were when I quickly graduated from cheese pizza to pepperoni. Pizzas had quality ingredients back then. I rarely eat pizza parlor pizza today.

Sometimes we would walk over on our toe stops so we didn't have to take our skate off. We weren't allowed to let the wheels touch the sidewalk.

Mid-sixties, I was maybe 6 or 7, we were visiting family in Wisconsin. My cool Uncle George brought in a fantastic smelling, large, flat cardboard box in and put it on the dinner table. Opened it up and there was the first pizza I ever had. Awesome! It must have had sausage, mozarella cheese, sauce, green pepper, onion, and who knows what else on it. It was tasted so exotic! By the late sixties, even my family was ordering real take-out pizza from Pizza Inn or Pizza Hut -- but only for special treats.

no

Yes, it would have been in the mid to late 70's, I would have been around 10.

We had seen it advertised on tv and in tv shows and we kept asking mom for it. There were no pizza places in our small town so mom bought the Kraft boxed version and made it. We didn't have mozzarella so she put cheddar on it. I don't think she put any toppings on it, just cheese. We didn't like it. She got sort of pissed off, saying that we kept asking for it and now that she made it, we didn't like it. We never had it again for a long time.

Now pizza is one of my favourite foods! But not the Kraft kind from a box and not with cheddar cheese.

I was nine years old. My parents moved our family to a tiny town called Three Hills in Alberta. We ran a small restaurant for a few months. Mom and dad ordered pizza from another restaurant. I hated it! REALLY hated it. I actually didn't like pizza until I was in my 20's and only then will I eat a Hawaiian pizza. If there isn't pineapple and ham on it with a thick crust, I will usually not eat it.

No, I don't remember the first time, I would guess it was in school, if you can call that pizza.

As for a frozen pizza, when I get one these days I get Freshetta. Although the edge is quite thick, the base crust is quite thin. I'm a thin crust fan too, but I don't like those cardboard crusts so many have. Freshetta is much like a pizzeria pizza. If you've ever had Domino's "Brooklyn" style crust, it's very much like that but it's far, far better than Dominos.

I used to practically live on frozen pizzas. It was simple, at the time there were some decent frozen za's out there and I rationalized it as reasonably nutritious compared to a lot of alternatives. Don't remember the last time I had a frozen pizza. Don't eat much pizza anymore.

My earliest recollection of family meals is early primary school years - mid to late 1950s - and I think we used to eat out about once a week. My parents liked to alternate between what passed at the time as various kinds of ethnic food, and so Italian restaurants were in the normal rotation. All seemed to have pizza. Sometimes eaten in, sometimes brought home in take out form.

I've never had a frozen pizza. Homemade from scratch, yes. I avoid franchise restaurants, for pizza and most all else (except when on the road and there's no other choices).

No. I am from NJ, and it was there well before I arrived. It was just always there!

No, I was too young at the time.

I grew up on a farm, no money for extras. My aunt, who lived in a Minneapolis suburb, brought up Jeno's pizza mixes one weekend. This would have been about 1960, I suppose. I wasn't wild about it then. Another weekend she brought up green and black olives. I thought they were horrible. I like them now, though, and pizza, too.

My grand kids can't believe there were no pizza places then. I wonder when the first pizza restaurant opened in Minnesota.

On my wedding night (the first one, in 1969), we ate at a restaurant. The waitress asked what kind of dressing I wanted on my salad. I asked what kinds are there? My then husband told me to try French. That was the only kind of dressing I had for about 20 years, before I branched out to Ranch.

And I never had shrimp until I was 21. A friend ordered 21 shrimp and asked if I wanted one. I said ok and ate it. Afterwards, she said she was going to see if there were really 21 shrimp and asked where the tail of mine was. I said what tail? I had eaten the whole thing.

dedtired! Boardwalk Pizza in OC... Mac & Manco's! When I was getting a slice, would wait until I SAW one just coming out of the oven... the hotter the better. One of those boardwalk foods you just HAVE to have... along with pork roll sandwich and Johnson's carmel (spelled wrong intentionally, cuz that's how it's said on the boardwalk) popcorn.

And it you make your own, what sauce do you use? Have tried several different canned/jarred "pizza" sauces and the only one that comes close to pizzeria is Don Peppino's!

No...I don't recall. I do remember being 14, on a school Spanish trip to Mexico City. My friend had arranged a side trip for us to visit her aunt/uncle/their 2 children. The aunt made us pizza from a womans magazine. It had a biscuit crust, tomato sauce and ham lunch meat on it. We raved about it being good, thanked her for her excellent cooking skills....but explained it wasn't what we'd had in the US.

My mother used to make pizza on a cookie sheet. She'd bake 1 and freeze 1. The one she'd freeze would ferment. :0) I remember how awful it was.....

I had my first pizza in Shreveport, Louisiana when I was 14. We were driving through on the way to visit a cousin in southern Arkansas and stopped in Shreveport for lunch. My pizza had Gulf shrimp on it and no cheese - I did not eat dairy back then.

In my 20s, I made a pizza in Mexico City at some friends' apartment, and I made it with a yeast dough, but I forgot to take altitude into consideration, and so the dough rose like crazy. It was still a lot better than any pizza you could get in Mexico City in the 1970s - there weren't many ethnic restaurants there back then, but that of course has changed. There were Argentine restaurants and a Swiss Fondue House, however. You could get pizza, but it wasn't good, and so I can see why people would make it at home.

I've also made pizzas on cookie sheets.

I do not remember any pizza restaurants where I grew up in central Texas at that time, but there were plenty in Louisiana - probably because LA has a large Italian population.

My first pizza was probably at school, first grade, where the nuns made Sicilian style pizza, which is thick crusted and square.

I don’t remember the first time I had pizza but I remember my mom and dad ordering pizza for pickup/delivery when I was in grade one. so it would have been the early 60s. ( Verona Pizza, Calgary) It would be a treat if there was a good movie/show on TV that night.

My dad loved doing fun things for us. In the summer, on his way home from work, he would pick up a gallon of A and W rootbeer in the brown jug.

Pizza is eternal in my life: there is no beginning and no end. It has always been.

That said, the most memorable pizza was that served at my Catholic grade school. The farming community was unusual in that part of the South for the number of Catholics, many of them Italian American truck farmers. The farmer men donated hunted meats to the school cafeteria and most of the women who cooked for the cafeteria were their wives.

They were great cooks! But their pizza was like none I've encountered elsewhere. It was really deep, with huge chunks of ground venison and other meats, huge chunks of tomatoes (I bet that was from their farms, too). But I remember undetectable amounts of spice, salt, or onions. No other tasty bits that Americans now think are good on pizza. It was very simple. I don't remember cheese at all, but I'm not sure. The crust was very thin, soaked with tomato sauce, but yeasty and good. This pizza was like a casserole and had to be eaten with a knife and fork.

It would have been about mid 60's, around the time I began to date. We didn't eat out much when in town, only when on trips (and drove annually to CA to see my grandparents). Very occasionally we'd go out as a family for chinese food locally.

There was one Italian restaurant in town and it had an actual name as did the chef/owner, but we all called him Filthy Phil. Now I'm not sure if that was his apron, or his bad language. There was limited parking in front, a bit to the side, and a large gravel lot in back. If we'd parked in back, we'd go in the back door which took us right through his kitchen to the tables area. If he'd been drinking (and I think that may have been often), he'd yell and swear at us. But still happily serve us. We went in groups after high school games, in our formals after prom, it was the place to go. The pizzas were good and authentic Italian. I don't remember anyone ever ordering anything but pepperoni or pepperoni+sausage.

That restaurant still exists today. Different family, nicer location and we no longer go in though the kitchen. We do go though, they have wonderful minestrone soup and a great steak. And of course pizza along with several interesting pasta dishes.

We do have a chain pizza once in a while, if I know we're going to have a busy afternoon one of us may pick up a Papa Murphy's Mediterranean Chicken U-bake, thin crust. We both like it.

I first had pizza in Germany, made by Italians, in the early 1970s. Then I had it in Italy while working there one summer. It was many years before I ate pizza in the UK since I didn't live in London where the first pizza restaurants opened. Where I live now there is one chain restaurant and many independents. The worst pizza I have ever had was in Rome with the Italian in-laws. It was a speciality they were very proud of - potato pizza. Talk about heavy, and it went cold within a few minutes.

Zalco, I do remember the square school lunch pizzas, I loved them. I really don't remember my first pizza, but that school lunch pizza could have been it. I know that my Mom never made pizza at home and we lived in a very small town, I don't remember any pizza places until I was in High School and started dating.

I am almost embarrassed to admit when I had my first pizza as it will date me as being ancient :-)) Truth be told, in my mid 70's, I guess I am!!

I can't remember my exact age but I was pretty young, preteens. I remember going with my older sister and her longtime boyfriend to a pizza parlor (as they were called back in the dark ages) for dinner. Why I accompanied them is lost in the mists of time. They might have been "babysitting" but who knows. Anyway, my sister married in 1961 (not to the same guy) so this was several years prior to that.......late 50's?? I don't remember the pizza....only the occasion.

I do remember school lunch pizza and that I liked it. Hardly what would be considered "pizza", it had a thick, bready crust, some sauce, meat and cheese. Baked in a sheet pan and cut in squares for serving. But real pizza was not a big part of my life until my college days.

I make pizza at home occasionally but prefer take out. We have some excellent pizzerias on my island so lots of choices. And I do like a Papa Murphy's Cowboy!!

On the boardwalk in Ocean City NJ when i was a little kid. I didnt like it and scrape off the toppings and just eat the doughy crust. Now i enjoy it from time to time and have a favorite takeout place.

Another 1st boxed Chef Boyaredeer here, we did crank it up a bit by adding mushrooms, sliced olives, and real cheese. Boxed Appian Way pizza was a 2nd choice too.

I don't remember when I first had pizza but I was not in school yet. We made Chef Boyaredee at home once a month or so and we went to Shakey's Pizza occasionally for a special occasion. I fondly remember the player piano they had a Shakey's.

Growing up in NYC, I don't remember a time when I didn't know about pizza. On Sundays my father would go out either to the deli to get sandwiches, or to one of our neighborhood pizza joints, and that was our dinner (my favorite night of the week!) Since then, the best pizza I've ever had was a white clam pie at Pepe's in New Haven.

I think I was a junior in HS when a group from the yearbook or school newspaper went out to eat at a nearby Italian restaurant called Romano's. The pizza was round, cut into squares, not triangles. I don't remember, but it was probably not the very thin crust pizza I prefer today. I doubt I got much of it anyway, HS boys being always ravenous.

I like my answer from 6 years ago, lol. My earliest memory was either the boxed mix stuff or pizza at school. No idea if we ever got pizza to go when I was young. Teenager, yes, but before that I don't know.

Sometime in the 60s. Chef Boy-Ar-Dee here too. My mom would add sliced pepperoni.

I think the next time I had pizza was at Pizza Hut in the early 70s. I much preferred their salad bar with the Romano dressing.

Six years ago I responded with, "I was born into an Italian family, so I have been eating homemade pizza since I was old enough to eat solid food." My father was 100% Italian, so we ate a lot of Italian food. Italian food is still my favorite. We have two Ooni pizza ovens - an Ooni Karu 12G and an Ooni Karu 16. Luckily, my husband loves pizza as much as I do.

It must have been early 60's, Round Table Pizza. I just had it last night from their original location in Menlo Park. I will probably sound like a pizza snob but I don't consider box pizza real pizza. I mostly just like mushrooms and olives but I had one recently with macadamia nuts and broccolini and it was delicious. Round Table used to make pizza with ground beef chunks I really liked. Even if I'm picking a pizza up to take home, I always eat one slice at the restaurant because for me, there is nothing like crispy hot crust and piping hot cheese. Even the five minute drive home makes a difference. I suspect the cardboard box. I think next time I will bring a hot pizza stone and transfer it immediately in the car. Fun thread!

I grew up in a very ethnic Polish household and the closest we got to pizza were these wierd little things my mother made with English muffins Yuck . Lo and behold when i got to high school i discovered the fabulous pizzeria around the corner and went there eith my friends after basket ball games it had been there the whole time but takeout food wasn’t something we indulged in In any case i love pizza now and probably have it at least twice a month Now i frequently make flat bread pizza Just a little less caloric

Gigi, try the pizza one town south of MP at Terrun on Cal Ave. You will not be dissappointed. Eat in. There is a fab outdoor space.

I remeber Mom used to make pizza from a Kraft box. it came with a small package of powdered parm and another of what I think was dried italian spices. My mom would only use half the spice package because otherwise it would have been too spicy.

No. I grew up about 50 miles outside Detroit, which has always had a big Italian population. There were pizza places and Italian restautants that served pizza everywhere, even back then.

Zalco, I haven't been to Terun, their crust looks delicious! Thanks for the rec. FYI, I don't consider Round Table to be great pizza, but it's close to my house and nostalgic. Pizza Delfina is really good and Vesta in Redwood City is where I go for creative toppings. Now that I think of it, Menlo Park doesn't have any great pizza places but I live in the next town over so if I'm lazy it's there or Redwood City. I grew up in Palo Alto and love to reminisce about all the great restaurants up and down El Camino, University Ave. etc. that are now gone. It's amazing that Round Table is still going strong. I especially miss the "old" Mings before they switched to mostly dim sum. I think we went out for dinner more than a lot of families. I could name 50 restaurants from Mt. View to Menlo Park that are now gone. I miss the good old days! I bought a small pizza oven but making the dough from scratch seemed more trouble than it was worth. Never tasted as good as the better pizza places.

Gigi, I cannot tell you how much my family and I miss Ming's. However, I have only known it as mostly dim sum, though I used to get regular take out from there too. I totally understand the appeal and nostalgia of Round Table. I used to live near their Mid Town location. Delfina is great. We are an eat out a lot family too ;-) My boys would be half their size were it not for the Peninsula Creamery on Hamilton and Emerson.

Funny, this came up just a day after my cousin posted a video of her new baby daughter tasting pizza for the first time...the smiles she had were so adorable! Clearly made her happy!