Welcome to December, Pennsylvania! We’ll get back to our regularly scheduled Pennsylvania news you can use programming on Tuesday. Today, a little something different.

Coming off the Thanksgiving holiday, food may be the last thing you want to read about. But since it’s a new week and a new month, I’d like to tell you about something new coming from The Keystone, a newsletter about pizza called Pizzavania, which will debut this Friday.

Read on to learn more about what you can expect from Pizzavania!

A plain pie at the Subway Café in Harrisburg. (Beth Lennon).

In Pizzavania, I’ll be highlighting some of my favorite pizza places in the eastern part of the state, along with places I’ve been meaning to get to for a long time. Pizzavania will also feature Pa. pizza-related news, polls, pizza history and fun facts, and who knows what else as I get this newsletter up and running.

Why the eastern part of the state? Well, it’s simple: I live just outside of Philly. So it’s much more convenient to focus on the eastern part of the state. Believe me, I’d be up for driving four-plus hours to sample some of that Altoona-style pizza I’ve heard so much about—and perhaps I will at some point. It’s just not in the cards right now.

You, the reader, will also play an important part in Pizzavania. I’ll be relying on your recommendations and opinions on the pizzas that you love. In fact, I could use your feedback right now. 

A seasonal pizza offering at Pizzeria Beddia in Philadelphia with roasted red pepper, sweet pepper cream, and cherry pepper vinaigrette. (Patrick Berkery/The Keystone)

There is so much that divides us these days, but one thing I think that we can all still agree on—no matter where you land on the political spectrum, who you worship, or who you love—is that pizza is pretty much the greatest food of them all.

Whether you prefer your pizza thin and crispy, chewy and charred Neapolitan-style, by the tray and cut—as they do in NEPA, or you’re one of those ‘You haven’t lived until you’ve tried pineapple on pizza!’ people, it’s all pizza, and it’s all good. (Except garbage chain pizza. You can take that stuff straight to the dumpster, thank you very much.)

We each have our preferences and our favorite pizza places, but we embrace those differences and debate them respectfully. Because pizza bonds us like few other things still do.

And now, more than ever, we need to embrace the things that bond us.

The double crust white pizza at Arcaro & Gennell in Old Forge. (Beth Lennon)

Just click the button below to sign up to receive Pizzavania. While you’re at it, tell all your pizza-loving friends about Pizzavania and urge them to subscribe as well.

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The pepperoni with hot honey red pie and a white pie with garlic and spinach at CJ and D’s Trenton Tomato Pies in South Philadelphia. (Patrick Berkery/The Keystone)

You’re probably thinking, ‘Yeah, all this sounds great—it’s pizza after all—but what makes this guy qualified to write a weekly newsletter about pizza?’

Fair question. And here’s your answer: If ever there was a topic I was qualified to write about, it’s pizza. I eat a lot of the stuff. I plan New England road trips so I can visit my favorite pizza destinations in New Haven, Connecticut. I’ve been to Chicago many times and enjoyed some of the best deep dish the Windy City has to offer (Lou Malnati’s could be my favorite). I’ve hit many of the great spots throughout New York City (John’s of Bleeker is still my favorite) and New Jersey (give me DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pies till I die), and several in Old Forge (aka, “The Pizza Capital of the World”). 

I’ve eaten pizza all over the world, in places you’d expect, like Italy, and some places you wouldn’t, such as Tokyo and Lima, Peru. I also used to deliver pizza, so there’s that, too.

Pica’s has been serving up thin-crust, square pizzas like this in Upper Darby since 1956. (Patrick Berkery/The Keystone)

To whet your appetite for Pizzavania’s arrival in your inbox on Friday, you can enjoy this guide to Pennsylvania pizza we published earlier this year, and this story with my recommendations for Philly pizza.

And in case you’re wondering, if I had to anoint one pizza spot as the BEST in Philly right now, it’s probably Pizzeria Beddia, but there are so many close seconds: like CJ&Ds, Down North, and Circles and Squares.

That’s all for now. Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE and share this email with the pizza-lovers in your life.

Look for Pizzavania in your inbox on Friday!

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Patrick Berkery. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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