Mm Mm good: Pizza lures readers to library
Pizza doesn’t really need a national day to be celebrated as America’s favorite food.
On average, citizens consume 46 slices a year. Saturday is the most popular day to digest a pie and Halloween narrowly beats out Super Bowl Sunday for the most popular day to order a pizza.
Ten middle school students and their families learned these facts when they attended a taste-testing event at Bethel Park Public Library.
While this year’s event actually fell on National Pizza Day, the Feb. 9 celebration has been a tradition at the library for more than a decade.
“Whenever we offer it, it’s a highly successful, popular program,” said Elaine Volpe.
A Dormont resident, Volpe is a Keystone Oaks and Westminster College graduate with 21 years of experience at the library. She has been the head of the children’s department for the past 13 years. She collaborated with Meghan Gaston to put on the teen-taste challenge this year.
“It’s always a super-fun program,” noted Gaston, who has been at the library for nearly three years.
“Anytime you invite kids to enjoy pizza, you have a for-sure program,” agreed Volpe.
While Gaston created the questions for the trivia contest and came up with Pictionary clue words as well as a pizza name generator, Volpe solicited pizza shops within the municipality for donations.
Students in grades five and six rated the pies from 1 to 5 in five categories: appearance, crust, sauce, cheese and overall taste.
When the scores were totaled Mm! Mm! Pizza and Red Onion tied for first place with a 170 score out of a possible 250 points. Pizza Hut finished second with 165 points followed by Olive Oil’s Pizzeria and Danny’s Pizza and Hoagies.
“It was a lot of fun for us to see who was going to be the winner and how they ranked them,” Volpe said. “Just recently I tried Red Onion again and I enjoyed it very much. Mm! Mm! is always a go-to for me. When I am running out for lunch, I grab it. So I can’t say I was surprised by the results.
“Pizza Hut is always popular among the kids anyway. They tend to know and become familiar with the chains. They were all good though, and I think it was a hard choice for them.”
Rylan Martin and Brooklyn Laskovich concurred. The cousins attend Neil Armstrong Middle School.
“The best part was trying the pizzas,” Martin said. “I have had those pizzas before,” she said of Red Onion and Mm! Mm! “I like Mm! Mm! better, but I think I like Pizza Hut best.”
“I feel like it was pretty good,” Laskovich agreed, “but I really wanted Pizza Hut to win because it’s my favorite. I could tell which was Pizza Hut and Mm! Mm!” she added. “Pizza Hut’s the best. This was really fun.”
Martin and Laskovich were like all the participants in the taste-test challenge. They are regulars at the library. They love to read and said they have enjoyed the Baby-Sitters Club series of novels.
“I like sitting down on the bean bag and reading,” Laskovich said.
“We come here regularly,” Martin added. “We love the books and programs like this.”
In between tasting pies and playing games, participants created name tags correlating to their birth date. Each month described a pizza in the superlative, such as the freshest for January. Each day represented a topping. So someone born on May 29 penned “A splendid anchovie” to a name placard for identification.
Additionally, participants designed their own pizza boxes, complete with names and slogans. While Brady Wallace tagged his “That Pizza Place,” Myley Metz and Tagore Baker created monikers such as Pizza-mania and Pizza-roni for their designs.
All agreed to having a fun time but enjoyed eating the pizza best.
Volpe was pleased to hear that. While she said she can’t pick just one thing she loves about the children’s library, she prefers the programs.
“I love every aspect of my job, but definitely one of the top things I love is coming up with these creative, innovative, fun, engaging programs.”
She noted that the library offers many events in which all ages can participate. They are great ways for families to come together, and that’s important considering their fast-paced, active lives.
“Spending quality time with your family is getting harder and harder these days, especially with both parents working and after-school activities; all the pressure and extra stress that families deal with today, it’s hard to find that quality time together. So any time we can offer a program, for free, it’s doing a great service to families.
“We benefit, too,” she said. “By getting new people in the door and introducing them not only to the programs but the books and materials we have to offer, it encourages them to return. We are fortunate that a lot of our patrons once they come in and meet us and attend a program or two, they are hooked.”
Gaston agreed. “The kids who come into the library always have fun,” she said. “They are excited to be here.”
The library is enthused about its upcoming ninth annual art gala. Submissions are being accepted until Feb. 25.
Talented young artists in the community will have their works on display during March. A special gala event will be held at 6 p.m. March 8. Presale tickets are $5. Admission at the door is $10.