Adam Richman's Go-To Pizza Order - Exclusive

Adam Richman is a man with humble tastes. As he put it in an exclusive interview with Mashed, "I could be out here rocking shirts about foie gras, huitlacoche, and caviar, but I like being the people's champ." So instead of wearing foie gras merch, he's helping Hormel, America's most popular pepperoni brand, sell pepperoni-themed goods in its Pepperoni Pizza Pop-Up Shop.

If you think that provides a clue as to Richman's favorite pizza order, you'd be right. "I go for pepperoni slices, or pepperoni and hot pepper," he said. He's a big fan of classic thin-crust New York City slices, though if a place specializes in a different style of pizza, he can be persuaded to branch out. His favorite pizza place where he lives in Westchester, New York, is known for focaccia pizza, and he likes Domino's cracker-like thin crust too.

When he wants a non-pepperoni option, he goes for a topping that you might have a hard time finding at a standard chain pizza place. "They call it the chicken parm slice with the chopped little bits of chicken parm on it," he described. He'll often order both a pepperoni and a chicken parm slice and wash them down with root beer.

You'd think that Adam Richman would be sick of pepperoni by now — after all, he had to eat a slice of pepperoni pizza on "Man v. Food" that was so massive that, in his words, "you'd see me hold a slice next to a baby, and it was bigger than the baby." But for the TV host, choosing pepperoni pizza is more than just a taste preference — it's also an act of patriotism. He explained, "No one realizes that pepperoni's not Italian — it's American. They've been making it here since 1915. It's American." He appreciates that the pepperoni industry has helped provide livelihoods to thousands of blue-collar workers, and he's proud of how this piece of American food culture has spread across the world.

Richman told us that pepperoni is the best pizza topping because it distills every aspect of the pizza experience into meat form: "The condiments at every pizzeria — it's oregano, a pungent spice; red pepper flake, a heat spice; and garlic powder, something that's profoundly savory. What if you mashed these things together into a meat incarnation to make the meat, cheese, and bread combo?" That, along with its iconic visual appeal, is why he thinks this humble American meat log has conquered the global pizza landscape.

The Hormel Pepperoni Pizza Pop-Up Shop is selling pepperoni-themed wearables, home goods, bedroom gear, and more for as long as supplies last.