# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 251
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5003 "2025-09-17T19:23:02Z")
Nagasaki style pizza. Back in the early 80s. We did some vacations down there, and occasionally wanted a “western” meal. Baby squid (small) all over the pies. Didn’t even have to ask for it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5004 "2025-09-17T21:04:49Z")
A few pizzerias around here have tried to establish “Cleveland-style” as meaning “completely covered with pepperoni with no gaps between”, but it hasn’t caught on. Far from the worst thing one can do to a pizza. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5005 "2025-09-17T21:07:32Z")
Hey, that’s how I make my pizzas! I start with a typical supermarket frozen pizza as a base and glom on the toppings. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5006 "2025-09-17T21:31:36Z")
I think it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. I make french bread pizzas at home, and too many toppings will just slide off, or tip the bread over while it’s baking. Even on a traditional pizza, I don’t overload it with toppings. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5007 "2025-09-17T22:10:47Z")
I see that pepperoni means something completely different in the USA. In Europe, at least in Italy, where the word comes from, and in Germany, where it is probably one of the most popular pizza toppings, a pepperoni looks like this when fresh: [![](https://gardenlife.decorexpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/osobennosti-i-raznovidnosti-pertsa-pepperoni-6.jpg) ](https://gardenlife.decorexpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/osobennosti-i-raznovidnosti-pertsa-pepperoni-6.jpg) or like this when pickled: [![](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/pepperoni-17441418.jpg) ](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/pepperoni-17441418.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5008 "2025-09-17T22:22:52Z")
If those peppers are not very spicy, we’d call the pickled ones pepperocini. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5009 "2025-09-17T22:25:10Z")
Yes, they are called that as well. The ending -cini means small. ETA: And they can be spicy, but not necessarily. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5010 "2025-09-17T22:41:48Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I see that pepperoni means something completely different in the USA. I learned that the hard way. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5011 "2025-09-17T23:10:05Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Hey, that’s how I make my pizzas! I start with a typical supermarket frozen pizza as a base and glom on the toppings. See, to me toppings on a pizzas are like toppings on a hamburger: they can enhance its flavor and texture, but they shouldn’t overwhelm it. A good pizza is good with nothing more than tomato sauce and cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5012 "2025-09-17T23:11:06Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Pepperoni is (AIUI) an American thing. It’s simply a hard salami with red pepper added. At least, calling it that is an American thing. I think that other nations use the same topping, but call it “pizza salami”. American pepperoni is also smaller in diameter than American salami, but I imagine that both come in different sizes elsewhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5013 "2025-09-17T23:16:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > At least, calling it that is an American thing. I think that other nations use the same topping, but call it “pizza salami”. Here it’s “Calabrese” Pizza, probably because of a variety of salami called “calabrese salami” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5014 "2025-09-17T23:55:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > > > Pepperoni is (AIUI) an American thing. It’s simply a hard salami with red pepper added. > > At least, calling it that is an American thing. I think that other nations use the same topping, but call it “pizza salami”. I can assure you that we have pepperoni, as in the sliced meat, here in the UK, both available as a topping in pizza places, and also sold in supermarkets. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5015 "2025-09-18T01:39:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A few pizzerias around here have tried to establish “Cleveland-style” as meaning “completely covered with pepperoni with no gaps between”, but it hasn’t caught on. Pepperoni is normally placed edge-to-edge before it goes into the oven. But it shrinks due to all the fat melting, so it ends up having large gaps between. To have it covering the pizza after baking, they’d have to put on double, so it overlaps before baking. Which is quite possible; double pepperoni is easily ordered. People mostly just don’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5016 "2025-09-18T01:49:06Z")
> **[Question Mark](https://xkcd.com/3143/)** [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/question_mark.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/question_mark.png) “Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I’ve been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot…” ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5017 "2025-09-18T01:52:07Z")
[Victor Borge would like a word](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPc0aijY2o4)… if he were still with us. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5018 "2025-09-18T02:18:38Z")
From _History of the World, Part I:_ > But, dot dot dot, you don’t understand! ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5019 "2025-09-18T02:19:53Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > [Victor Borge would like a word](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPc0aijY2o4)… if he were still with us. As would [Allan Sherman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y59VGfu1x68). ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5020 "2025-09-18T05:32:24Z")
Allan Sherman interrobang‽ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5021 "2025-09-18T10:46:33Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Pepperoni is normally placed edge-to-edge before it goes into the oven. Where? The typical pepperoni pizza I’ve seen has maybe three pieces per slice, which isn’t even close to being edge-to-edge. It doesn’t shrink that much. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/5022 "2025-09-18T14:27:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@dtilque](#): > > > > Pepperoni is normally placed edge-to-edge before it goes into the oven. > > Where? Godfathers Pizza. That’s how they make them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=250) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=252)