Kebab pizza facts for kids
Family-sized kebab pizza from Pizzeria La Bella in Hillerstorp
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| Type | Pizza |
|---|---|
| Course | Main |
| Place of origin | Sweden |
| Created by | Unknown |
| Invented | 1980s |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
The kebab pizza (called kebabpizza in Swedish) is a special kind of pizza from Sweden. It's topped with kebab meat and other tasty ingredients. The exact toppings can be different at various restaurants.
This pizza mixes Italian and Turkish cuisine styles. It was first made by immigrants from the Middle East in the 1980s. Since then, kebab pizza has become super popular. It's now one of Sweden's most loved pizzas. It's also one of the most popular fast food dishes overall. Because it's so popular, it's even mentioned in Swedish pop culture and politics!
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How Kebab Pizza Started
The kebab pizza was created in Sweden. It brings together flavors from Italy and Turkey. The very first pizzeria in Sweden opened in Västerås in 1947. This happened after 300 guest workers from Italy came to the city. More pizzerias opened in the 1960s. Soon, pizza became the most common fast food in Sweden.
After the first group of Italian immigrants, not many more Italians moved to Sweden just to make pizzas. Today, many pizzerias in Sweden are run by immigrants from the Middle East. They might not have found jobs in their original fields. So, they started making pizzas as a new business. In the 1980s, kebab and falafel restaurants started appearing everywhere in Sweden. In many smaller towns, restaurants often sold both pizza and kebab. The kebab pizza was invented around this time. We don't know exactly who created it or when.
The Swedish food company Schysst käk believes the kebab pizza started around 1982. Unlike many famous dishes, no pizzeria in Sweden claims to be the first to make it. The oldest known menu with a kebab pizza is from 1986. It's from Pizza Dali in Bromma, found in the National Library of Sweden. Pizza Dali called their pizza the "shish kebab-pizza." It had tomatoes, cheese, onions, bell peppers, and beef tenderloin. The next oldest record is from 1988. This was at Pizzeria Amigo in Eksjö. Their pizza had cheese, tomatoes, kebab meat, onions, champignons, friggitelli, and Béarnaise sauce.
Different Kebab Pizza Toppings
Kebab pizzas can look very different from one restaurant to another. They usually have kebab meat, onions, friggitelli, and a special sauce. The kebab meat is usually lamb. But sometimes, it's chicken. The sauce is called kebab sauce (kebabsås) in Sweden. It's often a mix of yogurt or sour cream and different spices.
The biggest difference between kebab pizzas is whether they include common kebab sides. Things like french fries and lettuce might be added to the pizza.
Some pizzerias also make a "Viking kebab pizza." This is a kebab pizza folded to look like a Viking ship. In 2021, the Sweden national football team created the "football pizza" (fotbollspizza). It's a kebab pizza with kebab, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, garlic sauce, herbs, champignons, onions, chili pepper, and pizza salad. For vegan kebab pizzas, the kebab meat might be replaced with seitan or soy kebab.
Kebab Pizza Around the World
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Even though kebab pizza is most popular in Sweden, it has spread to other countries. It's even found in Italy! The toppings used can be different in each country. For example, kebab pizzas in Norway often have maize (corn). Danish and Finnish kebab pizzas might include garlic. Kebab pizzas in the United Kingdom usually use lamb meat.
Pizzerias that serve Swedish-style pizzas and kebab restaurants have helped spread the kebab pizza. You can find it in countries like the United States, Spain, Australia, and Malta. These pizzas are very similar to the Swedish original. Pizza Karma, a restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, opened in 2018. They serve chicken kebab pizzas inspired by Indian food.
In 2020, British Domino's Pizza restaurants offered kebab pizzas. They called it the "beef doner pizza." But it was only available for a short time. Domino's also sells chicken kebab pizzas with garlic sauce in France and the Netherlands. Pizza Hut has tried kebab pizzas in Pakistan. They wanted to appeal to local tastes. They introduced pizzas like the "bihari kabob pizza." This pizza had meat with masala and mustard oil. Frozen kebab pizzas are also sold in other countries. The British supermarket Iceland sells them.
The Swedish author Jenny Damberg has compared kebab pizza to the Middle Eastern lahmacun. Lahmacun is a type of flatbread sometimes topped with kebab meat. However, the two dishes are not related in their origin.
Kebab Pizza in Swedish Culture
Pizzas of different types sold in Sweden in 2018 Kebab pizza (19.68%) Vesuvio (15.93%) Hawaiian (11.27%) Capricciosa (9.8%) Margherita (7.83%) Calzone (7.3%) Chicken (3.55%) Funghi (2.29%) Bussola (1.89%) Gyros (1.66%) Other (20.46%)
The kebab pizza is very important in Swedish culture. It's a common comfort food. Even though it's not a traditional Swedish cuisine dish, many people call it one of the "most recognizable dishes in Sweden." Some even say it's one of the "most Swedish foods." The Swedish author Marcus Priftis wrote in 2012 that kebab pizza is a "typically Swedish food idea." He said it could only have been invented in Sweden. This is because in Sweden, the same chefs often make both kebab and pizzas. Also, people see both foods as similar choices. Priftis also noted that immigrants created it for the Swedish public. So, he thought it was an example of Swedish culture changing, not just "immigrant culture." The Swedish author Annika Windahl Pontén compared kebab pizza to kåldolmar. Kåldolmar are cabbage rolls that started as a Swedish version of the Turkish dolma long ago. She wondered if kebab pizza might also become a traditional dish one day.
Kebab pizza is sometimes jokingly called the national dish of Sweden. Surveys by Onlinepizza show it's one of the most popular pizzas. Most years, it's been the top-selling named pizza. Sometimes, it loses to Vesuvio (a pizza with ham). This makes it perhaps the most popular fast food dish in the country. New Year's Day is when most pizzas are sold in Sweden. Often, twice as many are sold as on other days.
In 2016, a politician named Robert Hannah suggested making New Year's Day "kebab pizza day." He is the son of a pizza baker. He thought it would be a way to celebrate how many pizzas are sold that day. It would also honor Sweden's diverse food heritage and show the good effects of immigration. Hannah called the kebab pizza the "shining star among all pizzas." During the COVID-19 pandemic, kebab pizzas were one of the most ordered fast foods in Sweden. This was especially true in big cities. For example, it was the most ordered dish through the company Foodora in both Gothenburg and Linköping.
Some people have joked that kebab pizza mixes Italian and Turkish food in a way that might surprise people from those countries. The Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson said in 2015 that kebab pizza is so different from its Italian beginnings that "it's no longer an Italian thing made in Sweden, it's Swedish." In 2015, Ellie Bennett of The Local Italy called kebab pizza "definitely not Italian." Some Italians have said that kebab pizza is not respectful to Italian food history.
In Melodifestivalen 2008, the band Andra Generationen performed a song called Kebabpizza Slivovitza.
On July 21, 2021, an interesting event happened at the Hällby prison near Tumbo. Two people held two prison officers. They asked for a helicopter to escape and twenty kebab pizzas. They wanted one pizza for each person in their area. After nine hours of talking, the officers were released, and the people were taken into custody. They didn't get a helicopter, but they did get the twenty kebab pizzas! The pizzas were made by Beshar Toma from Hällby Pizzeria. The police were in a hurry and left without paying. But Hällby Pizzeria and the Swedish Prison and Probation Service later confirmed that the pizzeria was paid the next day.
