Suggest me a Pizza

What this tool does

You are getting a pizza, and now comes the hard part: what goes on it. Stare at a build-your-own list too long and every topping starts to sound fine, which is no help at all. This tool cuts through it. It hands you a topping at random from a hand-picked list, so you have a starting point instead of a blank slate, whether you are ordering in or making one at home.

Press the button for a topping. Press it again for another, or ask for two or three at once to put together a combination. It is a quick way to settle a stalled order or to talk yourself out of plain pepperoni for once.

How to use it

1. Number / Quantity. How many toppings to pull at once, from 1 to 100. Two or three is a good number for a combination.
2. Generate. Pulls a fresh topping, or a fresh set if you asked for several.
3. Starts with, Contains, Ends with. Optional filters that trim the list before it picks. Leave them blank to draw from everything.
4. Copy. Sends what is on screen to your clipboard as a plain list, handy for the order.

A topping is already on screen when the page loads, so there is always something to react to.

How it works

The list is a fixed set of pizza toppings, and each press pulls from it at random, with no repeats inside a single set when you ask for several. So this is really a topping picker. It hands you the ingredients to build a pizza around rather than naming a whole named pie.

The filters let you aim. Contains keeps any topping with your text in it, so typing cheese brings up Mozzarella, Feta, Goat, and Parmesan, and typing a word like pepper or olive narrows it the same way. Starts with matches the opening letter and ends with the closing one.

What is on the list

It runs from the safe to the adventurous, around eighty toppings in all. The classics are here, Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Sausage, Onions, and the usual peppers and olives, and so are the bolder choices, Truffle oil, Fig, Caramelized pears, Burrata, and yes, Pineapple.

That spread is the point. If you only ever reach for the same two toppings, a random pull is an easy way to try something you would not have ordered on purpose. Take it as a wheel of ideas, and use the Contains box when you already know you want, say, a cheese or a vegetable.

Why the topping debate never ends

Few foods start as many arguments as pizza, and the toppings are why. Part of it is taste, but part is the sheer number of options. When a menu offers a long list of choices, we tend to pick slowly, second-guess what we landed on, and sometimes give up and default to the usual. Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper showed the freezing effect in a 2000 study where shoppers faced with two dozen jams bought far fewer than those offered six, and Barry Schwartz tied the second-guessing to what he called the paradox of choice, that more options often leave us less happy with the one we pick.

Pineapple is the classic flare-up, beloved and despised in roughly equal measure, and the tool stays neutral on it. A random pull sidesteps the whole debate. It hands you one topping to react to, and reacting to a real suggestion is far easier than weighing every option on the board.

Building a pizza from it

A couple of simple moves turn single toppings into a pizza. Pull two or three at once for a combination, and if the mix looks wild, anchor it with a classic, since one wildcard on a familiar base is usually better than three wildcards together. Think about the base too, because a fresh, lighter topping suits a white or plain cheese pizza while a rich, salty one sits well on a red sauce. And remember that fewer toppings done well beat a pile of everything, so when in doubt, stop at two or three and let them actually taste of something.

Questions people ask

Is it free, and does it save anything?

It is free with no sign-up, and nothing is stored. The picks run in your browser, so copy your toppings if you want to keep them for the order.

Does it suggest whole pizzas or toppings?

Toppings. It hands you ingredients to build or choose a pizza around, which is the part most people actually get stuck on, and you can pull a few at once to form a combination.

Can I get a combination instead of one topping?

Yes. Set the quantity to two or three and press Generate, and you get that many different toppings to put together.

Can I narrow it to cheeses or vegetables?

Type the word into the Contains box and the list trims to matching toppings, so cheese gives you the cheeses and a vegetable name gives you those.

References

1. Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper, "When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000, the study behind choice overload. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11138768/
2. Barry Schwartz, "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less", his talk on how more options can lower satisfaction. https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice