The ‘pizza bill’ returns for seconds as Conn. lawmakers consider a state food

Pizza is back on the menu in Hartford as Connecticut lawmakers again file legislation to make one of the state’s most popular foods the official state food of Connecticut.

The move would cast pizza into the ranks of other state symbols like the sperm whale, the state animal; the praying mantis, the state insect; the charter oak, the state tree; and the mountain laurel, the state flower.

Connecticut also has a state mineral, almandine garnet, and state fossil, a three-toed footprint that likely belonged to a relative of the dilophosaurus.

The bill, SB 390, was introduced jointly by nearly all of the legislature’s New Haven delegation — all democrats.

Only two state representatives — Roland Lemar and Treneé McGee, also Democrats — from the city where the smell of charred crust pulls you toward Wooster Street like pies cooling on a cartoon windowsill didn’t join.

A version of the bill introduced during the 2021 session passed the state House nearly unanimously, only receiving nine “no” votes, but didn’t get a read on the Senate floor. Colin Caplan, an architect and historian who operates Taste of New Haven authored the bill.

“At this point, Connecticut has no state food,” Caplan said.

“We have an opportunity to make what people travel around the country, around the world to come to us to eat — we have a chance to make that our state food.”

Caplan, a New Haven native, is a selfproclaimed “pizza guru.” His company, Taste of New Haven, offers food entertainment in the Elm City including pizza tours and classes.

He’s also produced a documentary about New Haven’s pizza trinity of Sally’s Apizza, Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana and Modern Apizza called “Pizza, a Love Story” and wrote a book called “Pizza in New Haven.” He’s also lent his expertise to Vice and Thrillist.

Caplan said he acknowledges Connecticut has other staple foods like steamed cheeseburgers and hot-buttered lobster rolls.

He also gets that places like New York and Chicago are usually top of the mind when thinking pizza locations. But, he said, Connecticut has spent nearly a century earning its right to become the “Pizza State.”

The state’s oldest pizzeria, Frank Pepe’s, is 98 this year and the fourth-oldest pizzeria in the country, according to Thrillist.

“New Haven style is one of a handful of American pizza styles, and one that is finding its way to the top of the pizza food chain nationally with over 70 cities outside Connecticut with pizzerias that serve New Haven style pizza from coast to coast,” Caplan said.

“We’re talking hundreds of thousands of people coming to Connecticut and through Connecticut to stop and eat pizza. That just shows the economic stimulus and focal point of tourism that is a big reason we want to make Connecticut the Pizza State. That is a tourism ringtone.”

It’s not just New Haven apizza taking the country by storm.

Riko’s is a growing franchise and Stamford’s Colony Grill has expanded to Port Chester in New York, Arlington in Virginia and Tampa and St. Petersburg in Florida.

Connecticut pizza is consistently ranked among the best in the country and world by the Daily Meal, Big 7 Traveland more.

According to data from PMQ Pizza Magazine, Connecticut has the most pizzerias per capita in the United States.

“All these things are showing that pizza is a huge part of our economy. It’s a huge part of our culture and it really identifies anyone from Connecticut,” Caplan said.

“Because that’s what we look forward to when we go back home. We want pizza.”

Gov. Ned Lamont has gone to bat for Connecticut pizza. When New Jersey tweeted it’d declare itself “Pizza Capital of the World,” Lamont responded with a tweet of his own.

“Relax, New Jersey,” the governor tweeted. “I will proudly proclaim Crimped Hair Day, Wearing Socks With Sandals Day, and Don’t Pump Your Own Gas Day in your honor. But Connecticut is clearly the Pizza Capital of the World.”

The bill to designate pizza as the Connecticut state food has been referred to the Joint Committee on Government Administration and Elections.