2015 in Pizza: Pizza Saves Lives, Pizza Rat, and So Much More

VICE's popular food vertical Munchies just published the kind of 2015 Year in Review that we can really get behind. Rather than counting down the major events, tragedies, and disappointments of the past year, the Munchies staff recapped all the major pizza-related news of the year that was. And when you specialize in selling authentic Italian wood fired pizza ovens, all pizza-related news is good news.

So whether you like making your own pizzas in a portable pizza oven, ordering for delivery, or even heating up frozen pizzas (we promise, we're not judging), here are some of the best pizza stories from the past year.

Pizza Saves Lives, the Pizza Diet, Pizza University, and More

While we appreciated the effort that went into Munchies not quite safe for work "Best of 2015: The Year in Pizza," we're frankly disappointed by one major omission: Pizza Rat.

This fall, a plucky, can-do New York City subway rat was caught on video hauling a full slice of New York pizza down the station steps. As many observers pointed out, it was "the most New York thing that has ever happened." Pizza rat inspired Halloween costumes and was the subject of fawning viral content all over the world.

What else happened in the world of pizza this year? Pizza saved lives, literally.

"For instance, the life of one man in San Jose, California, who was literally talked off a ledge with the promise of a savory slice. In April, a man was perched on a freeway overpass, brandishing a knife and threatening to fling himself onto the concrete below. Tensions were running high. But Highway Patrol had a plan. They sent a robot to approach the man with a pizza that would be released by the borg if he agreed to pick up the phone. He agreed. He was saved. Hell yeah, pizza. You’re a hero."

We also learned that men eat more pizza when in the presence of women, that it's now possible to get a college degree in pizza, and Indian pizza has become a major hit in San Francisco. More recently, we enjoyed the story of this Michigan dad who invented his own pizza slice divider, now on sale at major retailers.

How To Enjoy Pizza in 2016

If you really want to start the New Year off right, considering finally investing in the Italian wood fired pizza oven of your dreams. These wood burning ovens heat up in 50 minutes, compared to alternatives that need a three hour warm up time. In our experience, eight inch pizzas are the perfect size, and can cook in just 90 seconds. That means you can easily make up to 70 delicious home made pizzas in one hour.

And we promise, the best tasting pizza you've ever had comes out of an Italian wood fired pizza oven. These outside pizza ovens are the new way to eat Italian style.