“Pizza is like sex” (Goldberg Pizzeria axiom)
Larry Goldberg (1933-2003) founded the first Goldberg’s Pizzeria in New York City in the late 1960s; the last one was closed in 2002. Goldberg’s Pizza Book (1971) contained one enduring pizza saying:
“Pizza is like sex—when it’s good, it’s terrific, and when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.”
“Sex is like pizza—even when it’s bad, you still have to pay for it” is a jocular variation on the saying.
New York (NY) Times
Larry Goldberg, 69, Fabled Food and Diet Lover
By PAUL LEWIS
Published: January 29, 2003
Larry Goldberg, a food lover who owned three popular New York pizzerias and developed an unusual method of staying thin that he called controlled cheating, died on Sunday in Kansas City, Mo. He was 69.
The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, a friend, Carol Kramer, said.
Mr. Goldberg founded the Goldberg Pizzerias, serving a Chicago-style deep-dish pie, in the late 1960’s. The last of them closed in 2002.
Mr. Goldberg also published books on cooking and dieting, including ‘‘Goldberg’s Pizza Book’’ (Random House), ‘‘Goldberg’s Diet Catalog’’ (MacMillan) and ‘‘Controlled Cheating: The Fats Goldberg Take It Off, Keep It Off Diet Program’‘(Doubleday).
22 August 1965, Chicago (IL) Tribune, “James Bond: Out of Steam and Coasting—The Man with the Golden Gun,” by Clarence Petersen, pg. M5:
THE JAMES BOND ADVENTURE always has invited comparison to sex: When it’s good, it’s great; when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.
13 June 1971, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Pizza Book a Slice of New York Life” by Digby Diehl, pg. S45:
And I happen to agree with Goldberg’s axiom, “Pizza is like sex; when it s good it’s terrific and when it s bad it’s still pretty good.”
Google News Archive
18 April 1975, Calgary (Alberta) Herald, “Pizza—good or bad it’s still king of the fast foods” by Eugene Chadbourne, pg. 67, col. 1:
Larry Goldberg of Goldberg’s Pizzaria New York — the only man to have published an entire book about pizza — summed it this way:
“Pizza is like sex. When it’s good, it’s terriic:when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.”
20 September 1984, Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Plebian pizza is put to the scholarly and scientific test” by Phyllis Magida, pg. F3:
Larry Goldberg, who used to own Goldberg’s Pizzeria in New Yerk, told me once, ‘Pizza is like sex: When it’s good it’s great. When it’s bad, it’s never really that bad.”
Google Books
1 July 1985, New York magazine, pg. 3, col. 1:
THE JOY OF PIZZA
By Gael Greene
According to one authority, pizza is like sex: When it’s good, it’s great, and when it’s not so good, it’s still pretty great.
Riverfront Times (St. Louis, MO)
Parlor Game
The St. Louis Pizza Haus proves that even when pizza’s kinda bad, it’s still pretty good
By Rose Martelli
Wednesday, Aug 31 2005
(...)
I can’t remember who delivered the second adage, whether it was a sound bite from TV or a tossed-off witticism I overheard at a party, but it’s stuck with me in boldface letters branded across my chow-addled brain: “Pizza is like sex and Woody Allen movies. Even when it’s bad, it’s pretty good.”
Cracked.com
Sex Is Like Pizza, Even When It’s Bad It’s Still Pretty Good
By: CRACKED Staff
June 22, 2009
Mel Brooks and Sharon Stone have both been quoted as saying that “Sex is like pizza. Even if it’s done bad, it’s still good.” But is that really true all the time? And are there other ways that sex is like pizza? More importantly, what are the nine worst possible ways that you could possibly respond to such a sexual innuendo. We’ve asked our team of highly trained stock photo models to explore the studio space on this highly important question ...
Slice Pizza Blog
Pizza Is Like Sex, Sex Is Like Pizza
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 29, 2009 at 7:45 PM
When you’ve been blogging about pizza for more than five years, you’ve heard the old “pizza is like sex” joke—“even when it’s bad, it’s good.”