There are some basic truths that are generally accepted about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Splinter taught the turtles everything they know, Shredder is their arch-nemesis and the four heroes in a half-shell love pizza. Pizza is such an essential part of the TMNT's identity both in-universe and out, that it's easy to forget that pizza didn't always play as prominent a role in the Turtles' diet as it does now.

The original Mirage comics which inspired the TMNT media empire were much different than their most popular incarnations. The Turtles all wore matching red masks, the tone was darker, and Shredder died in the first issue. There was also a distinct lack of pizza. Pizza did make a handful of appearances throughout the Mirage comics, though only after the 1987 cartoon had established it as the Turtles' favorite food. Still, pizza never had quite the same role in the Mirage comics as it did in the first cartoon. In the issue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Attack!!!, part 1, Leonardo even says that pizza makes him gag, lightly mocking the cartoon.

Related: 10 Greatest Episodes Of The Original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon

It would be one thing if the turtles just liked pizza in the 1987 show, but what made pizza an iconic element of the first TMNT show was just how weird the pizza pies became. Peanut butter, sauerkraut, and clams were all toppings the Turtles indulged in. Though Michaelangelo was the biggest offender of ordering strange toppings on his pizza, each turtle scarfed the pizzas down regardless of topping. Another element the 1987 show introduced was the trench coat and fedora combo which they would wear when going out to pick up pizza from their favorite parlor.  No in-universe reason has ever been given for why this iteration of the turtles loved pizza so much.

With the 1987 show being the most recognizable piece of TMNT media, pizza was a given for any cinematic adaptation. Both the 1990 trilogy of films and the live-action duology heavily incorporated pizza. Pizza was so tied to TMNT that they even did an entire concert sponsored by Pizza Hut in the 1990s. They also appeared in commercials for Pizza Hut to promote the 2014 film. That film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, would also offer an explanation for why pizza is so important to the brothers: a young April O'Neil fed the turtles pizza before they mutated.

The most popular reason given for why the Turtles eat so much pizza actually came a few years earlier in the 2012 TMNT show. It's explained in the first episode Rise of the Turtles Part 1 that after Master Splinter found the brothers, he fed them worms and algae because they were turtles. When the turtles first came to the surface, Raphael makes a pizza delivery man drop a box of pizza. Finding it much better than the worms and algae they had eaten before, it quickly became the Turtles' meal of choice and continued to have a prominent place in their diet throughout the show's run.

Though a myriad of reasons have been given for why the Turtles love pizza in-universe, nothing official has been said about why that choice was made by the 1987 show's creators. It can be speculated that the love of pizza was meant to reflect the teenage aspect of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. With the rise of mall-culture in the 1980s, pizza was often depicted as the signature food of teenagers. Making the Turtles love pizza would make them seem cool to a younger audience. The gross-out toppings might seem to contradict that, but gross humor was popular with a younger audience at the time.

Regardless of how or why the Turtles fell in love with Pizza, there's no doubt that pizza and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be tied together no matter what form the Turtles take.

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