Why Do Round Pizzas Come In Square Boxes？

蘇珊

If you’re like most people，you’re too busy eating pizzato stop and consider the logistics of how it arrived on yourkitchen counter. Ponder it long enough，though，and you mayfind it curious that pies usually come in square or other boxesthat are a geometric departure from the round crust. So why don’tpizzas arrive in round cardboard boxes？

It’s mostly because the pizza industry doesn’t really careto disrupt the cardboard industry. Cardboard boxes are usuallymanufactured with edges（i.e. square or rectangular）becausethey can be made in one piece as well as neatly stacked.

The advantage of making a round pizza box wouldmainly be aesthetic. It’s not going to save space over an edgedbox. In the case of frozen pizzas，stacking pies vertically runsthe risk of them rolling out of place. It’s just bad pizzamanagement.

Of course，there are exceptions. Many pizzerias offersheet or Sicilian- style pizzas， which are served in arectangular shape and better conform to a rectangular box.And some chains have toyed with the conventional pizza boxshape. Domino’s has a six- sided design with tapered frontedges intended to reduce the cardboard used and limit thecompany’s carbon footprint. （It also reportedly keeps thepizza from sliding around.）

Pizza wasn’t always relegated to square cardboard. In the1800s，street sellers carried pies in portable metal containersthat kept them warm. When pizza started rising in popularityin postwar America， pizzerias used a single piece ofcardboard as support and then slipped the pie into a paper bag.Eventually， corrugated cardboard struck a fine balancebetween retaining heat without trapping too much moisture.

Will we ever see a radical rethink of the pizza box？Some people have tried. In 2010，Apple filed for a patent for around pizza container with holes so moisture can escape. It’sused in the company’s food courts. Another company，WorldCentric，designed a compostable round box in 2018 that canbe used to reheat pizza. A similar product was test- marketedby Pizza Hut in 2019. All of the designs boasted of keepingpizzas warmer and crispier for longer，but none have becomeubiquitous.

For the most part，you’re still likely to encounter squareboxes. Pizza is，after all，about finding comfort in the familiar.

如果你和多數(shù)人一樣，你一般會(huì)只顧著吃披薩而非關(guān)心披薩是怎么來(lái)到你的餐桌上的。但如果你好好思量一下，你可能會(huì)好奇為什么披薩往往都裝在和圓形披薩形狀不同的方形或其他形狀的盒子里。那么為什么披薩不裝在圓形紙板盒里呢？

這很大程度上是因?yàn)榕_產(chǎn)業(yè)無(wú)意給紙板盒產(chǎn)業(yè)找麻煩。紙板盒一般都是有棱角的（比如正方形或長(zhǎng)方形），因?yàn)檫@樣的盒子可以一次成型，而且也容易堆放整齊。

制作圓形披薩盒的主要優(yōu)點(diǎn)是好看，但是它并不比有棱角的盒子節(jié)省空間。在存放冷凍披薩時(shí)，豎著堆放披薩盒會(huì)讓披薩滾走，從而變得不好收拾。

當(dāng)然也有例外。許多披薩店會(huì)提供長(zhǎng)方形餅底的薄底披薩或西西里風(fēng)格披薩，這樣裝在長(zhǎng)方形紙盒里更合適。還有一些連鎖店對(duì)傳統(tǒng)披薩紙盒進(jìn)行了改造。達(dá)美樂(lè)披薩推出了一種錐形邊緣的六邊形披薩盒，旨在減少紙板用量，限制企業(yè)的碳足跡。（據(jù)稱還能防止披薩在紙盒中四處滑動(dòng)。）披薩并不是一直裝在方形紙盒里的。19世紀(jì)的街頭小販曾將披薩裝在便攜的保溫金屬容器中。后來(lái)，披薩在戰(zhàn)后的美國(guó)變得越來(lái)越受歡迎，披薩店就用一塊紙板托起披薩放入紙袋里。最后，披薩店就采用了瓦楞紙板來(lái)做披薩盒，既可以保溫，又不會(huì)讓太多濕氣留在盒子里。

未來(lái)披薩盒是否會(huì)有大創(chuàng)新呢？有些人已經(jīng)嘗試過(guò)了。2010 年，蘋果公司給一種有孔的圓形披薩盒申請(qǐng)了專利，通過(guò)小孔可以散發(fā)掉披薩的濕氣。這種披薩盒被用于蘋果公司的食堂中。還有一家名為World Centric 的公司在2018 年設(shè)計(jì)出一種可以用來(lái)重新加熱披薩的可降解圓形披薩盒。必勝客在2019 年也試銷過(guò)一款類似的產(chǎn)品。所有這些設(shè)計(jì)都聲稱可以讓披薩保溫更久，更長(zhǎng)時(shí)間地保留酥脆口感，但是沒(méi)有一款被成功推廣。

大多數(shù)時(shí)候，你還是會(huì)見(jiàn)到方形的披薩盒。畢竟，吃披薩就是從熟悉的感覺(jué)中尋找慰藉。