Debunking The Pizza Theory

If you were a fan of the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," you've probably heard of the olive theory, which is explained as being in a relationship where one person likes olives and the other hates them, making them a perfect match. This, after all, would allow partner No. 1 to dispose of partner No. 2's unwanted martini garnishes. Well, we now have a new theory along those same lines based on a video posted by Instagrammers Zoya Biglary and Alix Traeger sharing a pepperoni pizza. Biglary doesn't care for either pepperoni or crust, so she saves both of these for her fiancee. As the couple sees it, their differing pizza preferences show that they fit together like puzzle pieces. "The pizza theory" certainly makes for a cute caption and video to match, but as a relationship tool it has some gaping holes.

For one thing, what if the pepperoni-shunning partner is avoiding pork products for religious purposes, as billions do? Others may abstain from pork (or meat in general) for ethical or medical reasons, which may make the entire pizza off-limits. As one commenter pointed out, the couple could have ordered a half-and-half pizza (or two separate ones), although this solution wouldn't have been so social media-friendly. Also, what if only one partner likes pizza? Ordering pizza and tacos just doubles your delivery fee instead of making for relationship harmony. Oh, and let's not get into other issues like non-melty vegan cheese, cauliflower crust, or Little Caesars vs Domino's ... way too many pizza complications.

While the pizza theory was admittedly inspired by the earlier olive theory, the idea of a couple with complementary diets dates back centuries. If you remember your Mother Goose rhymes, surely you're familiar with Jack Sprat who could eat no fat and his wife who could eat no lean. These days, the words simply serve as a cute verse to recite to a baby, but back in the day, most Mother Goose rhymes were meant to drive home a lesson. The one behind this rhyme wasn't any kind of "Jack Sprat theory" about how couples who eat differently will stay together. Instead, it was originally a 17th-century proverb about how it's better to do without than to get into debt, content better suited to a frugal influencer than a food blogger.

Some historians even interpret Mr. and Mrs. Sprat as a metaphor for King Charles I of England, who experienced lean finances when Parliament limited his spending, and his wife, Henrietta, who insisted on taxing the people and thus became "fat" off the profits. Things didn't work out well for the royal couple, however, as she wound up exiled while he was convicted of treason and lost his head (literally, to an executioner's axe). While pizza incompatibility is unlikely to lead to such dire consequences, perhaps the dark fate of these Spratt stand-ins indicates that it may be a bad omen to use food compatibility as a relationship predictor.