It is believed that every food can be classified as a soup or a sandwich. So, pizza being one of the most popular foods, especially among young people, brings to question whether pizza is a soup or a sandwich.

Overwhelmingly, when asked if they think pizza is a soup or sandwich, students voted sandwich. Only thirteen percent of students said they believe pizza is a soup. Gracie Zimmerman, a senior at North Forsyth, said, “I think it depends on how you view it. It could go either way.” While Zimmerman certainly has the qualifications to answer this question because she has “had a lot of soups and sandwiches in [her] lifetime,” I believe that pizza is a soup.

To classify pizza as a soup or a sandwich, we must first define both of those terms. According to Merriam-Webster, soup is “A liquid food especially with a meat, fish, or vegetable stock as a base and often containing pieces of solid food.” Merriam-Webster defines a sandwich as “Two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between.” Both of these words also have a second definition, in which something could be defined as that food if it resembles it. For example, if a food resembles a soup, it could then be defined as soup.

Typically, soup consists of vegetables, meat and broth. In regards to pizza, people do enjoy vegetables on their pies. Some popular meats to include on pizza are pepperoni, ham, chicken and beef. The only remaining question is does pizza have broth or a broth-like substance? Well, depending on where you purchase a pizza, it will have varying levels of grease. A soup is not defined by how much broth it has but rather if it has broth in the first place. If that is not enough reason, then I pose a question for you. Is tomato soup a soup?

If yes, then pizza sauce can also be considered a broth. The main sauce that is used in pizzas is tomato sauce, though others like Alfredo sauce can also be used. The only difference between tomato sauce and tomato soup is that they are named differently. When cooking, tomato sauce and tomato soup can be substituted for each other, which means that they are essentially the same thing. If tomato sauce is thin enough, it is considered a broth. Therefore, if people eat vegetables and meat on pizza, and pizza sauce is seen as a broth, pizza is a soup.

Some people like to argue that pizza is a sandwich. For this there are two arguments: The pizza by itself is a sandwich, or when folded, a pizza resembles a sandwich. For a food to be considered as a sandwich, it has to have two pieces of bread with some sort of filling in between. Pizza can not be a sandwich because to do so you must first fold the pizza. Therefore, I admit that a folded pizza could be considered a sandwich but a pizza by itself is not a sandwich because it requires further action after the pizza has already become a pizza to be a sandwich. It does not, however, require further action to be a soup.

Pizza is a soup, and unless the definition of a sandwich or soup changes, it will stay that way.