Pizza Night Feeling Boring? Grab These Toppings The Swedes Use

If you are tired of the same ingredients — pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, back to pepperoni — on your homemade pizza nights, you can look abroad for some inspiration. Yes, you could look to the birthplace of modern pizza, Italy, but surely you've already tried that. Instead, it's worth looking for inspiration much further north. In Sweden, you'll truly find some unexpected toppings, since they put curry, salty ham, and even bananas on their pizza. Yes, bananas.

Think about it: Here in the U.S. we, controversially, put pineapple on some pizzas, so why not branch out to other fruit? That said, it is natural to wonder how, in a country that grows its small amount of bananas in greenhouses, the fruit ended up on pizza. In the '60s and '70s, Sweden started getting into Polynesian flavors following the Second World War. Bananas started showing up on menus and in homes. Thanks to a casserole made at a potluck attended by food editor Anders Tunberg, bananas and curry powder became a known combination that worked. The warming spices blended well with the sweet banana. From there, after pineapples made their way onto Swedish pizzas in the late '70s, bananas and curry powder weren't a far reach.

It's not just bananas and curry; Sweden's pizza scene differs from American pizza thanks to additions like cabbage slaw and kebab meat. But the Scandinavian nation is far from the only country that might inspire your search for out-of-the-box pizza toppings. Another country most people don't associate with pizza is Argentina. There, you can find the Fugazzeta, a sauceless pizza with a thick layer of onions between the dough and the copious amounts of cheese. You can also find hearts of palm or shredded bits of hard boiled eggs atop pizzas throughout the country. Another popular topping found in Buenos Aires is fainá — a chickpea flour pancake that makes the slice look more like a sandwich full of melting cheese.

You can also look to South Korea for some fun pizza toppings. A popular dish in the country is corn cheese, a variation of which can be found on many pizzas. Eateries will add sweet corn and ranch to their pies, creating an addictive, mild flavor. You can also find many pizzas topped with bulgogi, the thinly sliced, marinated beef being a natural pizza topping. In fact, if you want to taste test the combo before you make it yourself, Aldi is now selling a bulgogi beef frozen pizza!

Keep in mind that you can also mix the toppings from these countries together. When you're cooking at home, you can make your own fugazzeta topped with bulgogi and Swedish-style bananas; no one is stopping you. Hopefully, this journey around the world of pizza inspired you to get out of the rut of the same old pizza night over and over!