I’ve heard it goes back to the Romans, but don’t quote me on it. Lutefisk is similarly cured in lye. Lye is also often used in making pretzels to get the nice brown color.
This, all day.
As a general rule, I can’t abide by mixing savory with sweet. I never order sweet ‘n’ sour anything from the Chinese spot. I even eat my pancakes last, because I refuse to have syrup come into contact with my bacon and eggs. The one and only exception to this rule is pineapple. I love pineapple on damned near anything, but especially pizza; the reason I hate Hawaiian is not because I don’t like pineapple on pizza, but because I don’t like ham on pizza.
I also love supreme/loaded/whatever. I can’t abide by single-topping or meat-lover’s, but give me a pizza with 6-8 toppings (meat and veg mix), and I’m good. Nobody ever ordered any of those for the office pizza “parties,” though. 