And it certainly wasn’t always American. So how did a seemingly simple immigrant street food become the most shared, argued-over, and emotionally loaded meal in the country? In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely uncover some surprising facts about the history of pizza in America, tracing its journey from Italian and ancient Mediterranean roots to our neighborhood pizza parlors, family tables, and regional loyalties that still divide and challenge us today.

This episode of Family Tree Food & Stories shares how pizza (the “slice”) became portable fuel for working families, how New York, Chicago, Detroit, and New Haven shaped distinct styles (and the pizza wars), and why pizza shows up at our most personal moments—birthdays, late nights, celebrations, and comfort meals. It’s not about toppings. It’s about memory, migration, and why pizza became one of America’s favorite tabletop foods.

🍕 Key Takeaways

1. How pizza evolved into an American food staple: from early immigrants to all-out national pizza wars and modern rivals today.
2. Weird and delicious regional differences: from New England to Chicago and elsewhere, the differences are often stark, very personal.
3. Pizza parlors shaped many early communities: they were family-owned establishments that brought back memories from when we were kids.
4. American reinvented pizza before it was exported worldwide: global pizza as we know it today might exist because of its American evolution. What do you think?

🎧 Listen now and rediscover how pizza memories you didn’t realize shaped your own childhood and life today.

Then share this episode with someone who still argues about what city or restaurant has the best slice—or remembers when pizza wasn’t “real food” in their house.

Leave a review, follow the show, and tell us:

What did pizza mean at your table?

Because every meal has a story—and this one built America.

Additional Links ❤️

1. Recipe for How to Make Champagne Vinaigrette made with leftover Champagne
2. Book:

What stays, what goes, and what gets reinvented with style and taste? In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, your award-winning hosts Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely take on the post-holiday refrigerator—one container at a time, with how-to ideas and a recipe that will turn your holiday leftovers into a fancy homespun “gotta have.”

This episode isn’t just about food—it’s a look at what leftovers say about the way we live, how they reflect culture (in the US and elsewhere), resourcefulness, and a way to embrace tradition and move forward. From stuffing and cranberry sauce to black-eyed peas, collard greens, mashed potatoes, and bacon gravy, and even what to do with leftover champagne, Nancy and Sylvia share old and new strategies for recreating new foods from “old”after the holiday glitter is packed up and put away.

In this episode of Family Tree Food and Stories, you’ll also get practical ideas for how to save food, stretch your grocery budget, and reuse ingredients in ways that still taste good on day five. Providing they’re not fuzzy.

If you're aiming to start the new year with less waste, smarter meals, and better habits in the kitchen, then dig in and enjoy the show!

🔑 Key Takeaways:

1. Most families throw out 30–40% of holiday food: learn what to do with leftovers that make them taste even better than the first time around.
2. What’s in your fridge can help with New Year's financial management: Did you know that the price of groceries has increased nearly 28% over the last five years? This episode shares tips and ideas that even your mom would be proud to serve.
3. Leftovers have global traditions too: From Kentucky Bergue to Italian Arancini Balls and even French Toast, every culture has creative and delicious tips and tricks for making your holiday leftovers extra special and even more delicious.

Additional Links ❤️

1. Recipe for How to Make Champagne Vinaigrette made with leftover Champagne
2. Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon

What do people in other countries leave for Santa on Christmas Eve, and why have those foods become part of the holiday?

In this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories, Mrs. Claus and Rudolph step in for Nancy May and Sylvia Lovely to examine the origins of Christmas treats and food traditions around the world. How have history, economics, and cultural storytelling shaped what we now consider “traditional” holiday foods? Mrs. Claus and Rudolph share their stories and examples of such treats as milk and cookies in the United States, fried chicken and strawberry cake in Japan, buñuelos in Mexico, rice cakes in the Philippines, and oat-based Haggis cookies in Scotland.

Rather than just recipes, you'll learn at the forces behind some of the best Christmas traditions—wartime scarcity, post-war rebuilding, marketing influence, and the role of myth in preserving rituals across generations. These two also share how meals and simple food customs help families mark time, reinforce memory, and maintain continuity during the holidays across the generations.

This episode offers historical context, global perspective, and practical insight into why food traditions persist—and how understanding their origins changes the way we experience them today.

Join us:

If this episode of Family Tree Food & Stories made you think differently about the food on your holiday table, share it with someone who values tradition, history, or a good story.

Subscribe to Family Tree Food & Stories on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform, and leave a review—it helps these stories reach new listeners.

And if you want a place to record the meals and memories that matter in your own family, explore My Family Tree Food & Stories, available on Amazon.

Because food isn’t just what we eat—it’s how we remember.

Additional Links ❤️

1. Recipe for Santa's Secret Flying Sauce (and story)
2. Book: My Family Tree, Food & Stories Journal Awarded #1 New Release on Amazon