Wow – what an amazing contest Bama’s Best Pizza has been. We announced the contest back on Dec. 28 and received nominations for more than 85 restaurants across the state. We took the 8 with the most nominations and put them into our Edible Eight, which competed in daily, regional match-ups on our Facebook page. And now the battle to claim the title of Bama’s Best Pizza is now down to just four restaurants!

I am very excited to get to be a judge for this contest. Next week, we’ll travel across the state to visit all in the Flavorful Four. We’re going to taste-test a pepperoni pizza at each place, just so we have a good base to compare all of them. But we’re also going to try their specialities to determine a winner. It really all comes down to answering the question: “Is this something I would drive out of my way to eat again?”

In the end, one of these four will claim the title of Bama’s Best Pizza. But, aside from that, we hope this contest has achieved a couple of other things, too. We hope it’s encouraged our viewers to order a pizza pie or two from their favorite local restaurant throughout this contest period. We hope that it’s made people even more proud of their awesome local restaurant owners and workers. (And we’ve definitely seen that pride come through in comments and shares on the various Facebook posts.) And, finally, we hope it’s made you think about just how many farmers and farm products are represented in every pizza pie — maybe you’ve even discussed that with your children. If you haven’t yet, then this weekend seems like a great time to order in and talk more about where the food you eat gets it’s start.

Thanks to all of you for making this such a fun contest! Check back in a couple weeks for news on the winner!

-Mary Wilson

Fun pizza facts:

• 350 slices of pizza are eaten each second in the U.S.
• Every day, about 13% of Americans eat pizza.
• Thanks to pizza, Americans have increased their cheese consumption by about 41% since 1995.
• America’s favorite vegetable pizza toppings vary by region. Mushrooms, tomatoes and onions are top choices in the South.
• Every year, Americans consume 251.7 million pounds of pepperoni on pizzas.
• Pizza sales increase an average of 35% on Super Bowl Sunday.
• Pizza can be a very nutritious choice. A slice of cheese pizza contains 12.7 grams of protein and 1.8 grams of fiber as well as calcium, zinc, iron and other vitamins and minerals.