Dough you believe this guy?
A Connecticut man who claims to love pizza more than anything else in the world has been scarfing down at least a slice a day for the last six years, sauces say — and the piece-loving pie-sano has no plans to slow down, even swinging a delicious career change thanks to his deep dish zest for ‘za.
And it all began with a dare.
“I used to work for a company that looks after heating and cooling systems. My colleague and I would be on the road all day, and the quickest thing for me to grab to eat was a pizza,” Kenny Wildes recently told The Guardian.
“One day, he said: I bet you couldn’t eat it every day for a week.’ I rose to the challenge with ease. He then extended the bet to a month. By the end, I felt I could go for longer,” Wildes said.
The sauce-ficionado, whose father once owned a pizzeria in the Nutmeg State, swears he’s not skipped a day since the start — very often consuming an entire pie, though occasionally he’ll just grab a slice.
During the holidays, when the local pizzerias are closed, he’ll drive to the casinos near his home in Eastern Connecticut to keep up his eating streak. On his wedding day, he ordered cheese pies for his guests.
And believe it or not, he manages to stay in great shape.
“I’m actually pretty skinny,” he confessed. “I guess I can thank my metabolism for that. Sometimes people will get in touch with concerns about the healthiness of my habit, but I’m fit and healthy.”
Wildes set up an Instagram account to document his ongoing experiment — which put him in touch with a pizza box company that offered him a full-time gig as a salesman.
“It’s the perfect job for me, as I can travel and try pizzas from all over the country,” he said.
“This spring, I had pizza in 10 different US states. I also went to Las Vegas for a pizza convention. My favorite crust is the thick, crispy and chewy style from New Haven. The city has the best pizza I’ve ever tried. I love eating at a place called Sally’s Apizza, which has been open since 1938. The sauce is like nothing I’ve ever had, and the coal-fired oven puts the perfect char on the crust.”
Wildes has tried peanut butter and bacon pizzas, beefaroni and caviar pies. But his Connecticut roots often show — he doesn’t believe pineapple belongs anywhere near a pizza, and on a daily basis, he prefers a nice deep-pan pepperoni, or a plain margherita pie.
While he calls his wife “very supportive,” he said he tries to get his daily fix during lunch hours, so he can eat a normal dinner with his family.
“But I’ve always got room for leftover slices after dinner,” he confessed.
Wildes occasionally runs into his former colleague — the one that issued the challenge that started his whole journey.
“He laughs and calls me crazy, but is impressed that I’ve kept it up all these years,” he said.
“I think people find it hard to understand why I do it, and just how much I love pizza — but it’s as simple as that. I’ll continue my streak as long as I’m still excited about pizza, and I’m happy to enjoy my delicious journey, one bite at a time.”
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David Landsel
