From what I have read, pizza is the most popular food on the planet. It is hardly limited to tech events.

So that may be a factor. In a world full of people who are either vegan and looking down their nose at you if you aren't or only eat keto or some other niche thing and where people complain about food allergies and yadda, pizza is the least worst option that will have the most universal appeal.

> pizza is the least worst option

On the contrary, it's makes almost every group unhappy for different reasons: keto, gluten-free, "paleo", vegan.

(Not that I dislike it personally)

The overwhelming majority of the population are not members of one of those groups, though.

Of course, but DoreenMichele was talking about niche selective eaters

I eat keto (well, at least most of the year, not on the run-up to christmas) and if I want to go to an event that provides food that isn't keto... I bring my own food from home. You can't expect everyone to accommodate your specific needs.

That's not contrary to what they said, since it still stands that most people like pizza.

I'm responding to DoreenMichele talking about niche selective eaters

Gluten free vegan pizzas exist.

It’s encouraging bad diets. Free pizza is a way to tempt people, and the consumer of said pizza incurs an opportunity cost since they could have used the time to eat something nutritionally appropriate.

I have a serious medical condition. I have gotten off of multiple drugs, in part by getting very picky about what I eat. I am willing to eat pizza sometimes.

I absolutely do not need a total stranger deciding for me what is nutritionally appropriate for me, all Big Brother style.

You don't have to eat it, you can always bring your own food or eat something before/after. You're not "missing out" in the same way you're not "missing out" when you don't go pick up all the free junk on Craigslist.

Comparison is not accurate, not picking up junk on craigslist takes 0 time, tech event takes >0 time.

A comparison that isn't quite the same on one dimension doesn't invalidate the comparison... The dimensions I was comparing were those of temptation and of "missing out" on some free stuff. Still, not eating free pizza at the tech event take 0 time too. Maybe you'd argue that you have to eat sooner or later and food is already there so you can multitask it but by the same argument for many free X on Craigslist, you'll have to get an X sooner or later, it's already there so you can multitask picking it up while you go do some other errand. Or hey, ignoring Craigslist, look at that decent-looking free chair you're about to drive past going home from work...

Comparison is very accurate, not picking up free junk on craigslist takes 0 time, not eating the free food at the tech event (that you are already going to) takes 0 time.

But you get a tech event out of it, which is presumably the primary reason you're there.

Pizza is not a bad diet (only eating pizza is bad, but we are not talking about that).

Has a decent mix of protein, fats and carbs in a tasty package. Not everyone wants dry lean chicken, or zero-calory veg/shrooms, even if any two people here could agree on what is “nutritionally appropriate”.

The linked site mentions the money can be spent on any kind of food or drink on the "about" page:

>Event organisers may spend the sponsorship money on any food and drink they deem appropriate according to local law and custom.

In what regards is pizza a junk food?

It depends on how you make it and how much you eat of it (calories).

It also depends if you reguraly workout and how many calories you burn.

It's starch, dairy and processed/cured meat regardless how you make it. Usually meetups serve from counter takeout chains which makes it even worse. There is no argument for pizza not being a junk food.

> It's starch, dairy and processed/cured meat regardless how you make it.

Not to be too much of a devils advocate, but I usually eat pizza in the form of a pesto pizza loaded up with veggies. There's definitely an argument that could be made that pizza doesn't have to be unhealthy.

If that's your definition of junk food, then so is half of the stuff you can order in regular, expensive restaurants.

It's possible to make very healthy pizza but the big chains make it pumped full of oil, sugar and meat.

Again, if your definition of "unhealthy" contains "meat", then half+ of the regular food is out.

Also, "healthy" pizzas and tasty pizzas as sets have little to no intersection. Which is fine for food you don't eat day in, day out.

Or, I suppose, bread, cheese, salami and tomato sauce. That sounds a lot better ;-) Probably shouldn't make a diet of it, but it's healthy enough in moderation.

>processed/cured meat regardless how you make it.

Have you heard of ordering pizzas without meat?

Which still just leaves the highly-processed carbs and high-calorie dairy overload.

Order a whole wheat crust.

>highly-processed carbs

What kind of godawful pizzas are you eating that use processed bread as a base...

All dough is highly processed. Milling, separation, other processes applies to the original plant product to make flour, then fermentation usually with highly refined sugar.

That depends on what you mean by processed. By your definition even milling your own flour is "processed". Places that make their own dough are far from the classic definition of processed.

you know the "processed" in "processed foods" doesn't mean milling grains, right? It's processes like freeze-drying, adding preservatives and various chemical agents to provide consistency, taste, texture, longevity. Processes that introduce weird effects and ingredients that may have a negative impact on your health.

How much you eat, whether or not you work out, and how many calories you burn has nothing to do with whether or not pizza is a junk food.

In the sense that it’s cheap, quick and carb heavy.

Nutritionally, pizza is the last thing that an office worker needs. Free pizza at an event is another salad / gym session that the worker needs to organise on their own time. Or not.

Or don't eat the pizza? Unless you are trying to stick to a very restrictive diet, a slice of pizza isn't going to ruin your health. Keep going to gym, eating healthy, and either eat before the event or just stick to one slice of cheese pizza if you must munch with everyone else. It would be nice if there were other options for events like that but there really isn't a healthy, cheap alternative to pizza that fits the same role and has the same universal appeal.

In nearly every regard.

Look up how much sugar is in the average pizza sauce/dough.

A normal pizza dough should have a tiny tiny amount of sugar - 2 grammes per pizza maybe, just enough to feed the yeast. It’s usually all flour and water with only tiny bits of sugar, salt and olive oil...

Same goes for the pomodoro - it’s not ketchup, for dog’s sake, it should be just tomato, garlic, herbs (and onions and olive oil maybe). If your pizzeria puts heaps of sugar into the pomodoro, you might want to consider switching.

Well thanks, I actually used to manage a pizza restaurant in Palo Alto. All I can really say is if you think pizza is a healthy meal try eating it once a day and tell me what happens to your waistline.

NY-style pizza, lots of sugar and oil. Not the norm in the rest of the world.

I actually watched a fancy pizzeria in Palo Alto prepare my pizza and then pick up a bottle of oil and dump it liberally over the finished pizza. That was pretty shocking.

I never had pizza at a meetup that wasn't made in the "junk food way".

Agreed. A slice or two of pizza (depending on size and heartiness) should be enough to fill up a healthy belly, without containing enough of any one ingredient for it to be unhealthy (provided it's made without any processed crap). Unfortunately for me, pizza is one of two foods that I have a hard time not eating until it's gone, with ice cream being the other.

Two slices of pizza is not a well rounded meal or particularly filling.

> Two slices (1/4) of a typical, 13-inch cheese and meat pizza have been shown to provide almost 1/3 of the daily recommended allowance for protein, 12-15% for vitamin A, 30-45% for thiamin, 25-30% for riboflavin, 20-30% for niacin, 40-50% for calcium, and 18-25% for iron

Each slice has:

- 12-15g protein

- 16g fat (11g polyunsaturated)

- sodium 500mg

- carbohydrates 30g

- 2 to 5mg lycopene

Not bad unless you go crazy with a 'BBQ-sauce meatlovers' american pizza.

Considering that a healthy belly is filled by approximately two fists worth of food, two slices will always fill a healthy belly. And it doesn't have to be well rounded to be healthy, just devoid of processed foods and limited to a healthy portion (see two fists rule above). Of course, YMMV if you're not a particularly healthy person to begin with.

Also note that not being "a healthy person" may not be your fault. Some people's digestive systems weaken over time, causing them to often feel less full when eating (and thus eat more without realizing it).

2 new slices and a can of Pepsi was my go to lunch for years in NYC. I am now 80 pounds heavier than I was when I started working in NYC.

What else surrounded that? What was breakfast and dinner? There's a lot more than lunch in a day. 2 slices and a can of pepsi is probably around 700-800 Calories.

Bacon egg and cheese on a buttered roll for breakfast. A cheeseburger deluxe for dinner. Oh... and 2-5 pints with everyone after work before I ate dinner on my walk home.

I doubt your lunch was the problem ;)

This is not accurate, you probably meant to make a different point. Whether or not something is junk food has nothing to do with how much of it you eat or how much you work out. Doritos does not magically stop becoming junk food because you only eat a one chip, or because you run for 10 miles after every chip. Junk food is junk food, the contents of the food is the only thing that goes into the definition.

If there's an appropriate time for unhealthy food, this is it. Eating tasty food, regardless of healthiness, seems to be part of the appeal of these events. It's a social event, and should be fun and casual. I don't eat pizza very often, and having the opportunity to have some makes an event ever so slightly more appealing.

This is a demand issue, I think. Easy to fix. Just sponsor lots of healthy food for events. Also, FreeHummus.io is still available for you to go to town.

Pizza's not health food, but neither would I call it junk food.