Congratulations, Badgers. You folks help keep one of America’s most vital economic sectors—the frozen-pizza industry—afloat in more ways than one. Not only do you consume the most frozen pizza per capita, but your state also produces many major frozen-pizza brands like DiGiorno, Tombstone, and Jack’s. I can almost see the proud smiles spreading across your faces, lit softly by the gentle glow of your ovens.
Your top spot came to light earlier this month when a product developer from Nestle’s frozen pizza division told the Appleton Post-Crescent the Dairy State ranks first in U.S. frozen-pizza consumption. He ties the state’s appetite for frozen pizza to its population of Norwegian immigrants, noting Norway is the only country that eats more frozen pizza per person than America. This proclivity extends to the rest of the Midwest as well, which eats about twice the rate of frozen pizza as the rest of the country. Interestingly, Wisconsin is home to only an average number of brick-and-mortar pizza restaurants.
The state’s fondness for frozen pizza helps explain the curious Milwaukee-style pizza I spotted in my own grocery store months ago. Milwaukee-style pizza? Is that a thing? Depends who you ask. But frozen pizza is so supreme in America’s Dairyland that a Save More in Minocqua reportedly stocks more than 200 varieties of it. It’s like the Mars Cheese Castle of frozen pizzas! (For our money, we like Red Barron.) Now excuse me while I google how far Minocqua is… damn.