Scott Wiener has devoted his adult life to pizza. He’s devoted himself to its history, its science and its taste. At his job, he shares that devotion with others as part of his New York City-based pizza tour guide company.

Wiener, a Syracuse University alumnus owns a New York City-based pizza tour guide company. At Scott’s Pizza Tours, attendees travel to the city’s pizzerias, learn the history of the slice and yes, eat pizza. Wiener is gearing up for a busy October — it’s National Pizza Month.

He’s also released a book called “Viva La Pizza! The Art of the Pizza Box,” alluding to the Guinness World Record he won in 2013 for the largest collection of pizza boxes with 595 different boxes. His collection has grown since then, and he now owns over 1,000 boxes from over 60 different countries. Pizza is everything to Wiener, he said. When he’s not eating it or giving tours about it, he’s writing a column for Pizza Today Magazine, judging pizza competitions or being consulted as a pizza expert. He listens to interviews about historic pizza ovens and sometimes gets texts from unknown numbers hoping to give him some “pizza updates.”

“Pizza was and is always comfort,” Wiener said.

 

When he came to Syracuse, Wiener went to Cosmo’s, which is no longer open, and Varsity whenever he needed an instant pick-me-up. However, Wiener had no idea his love of pizza would lead to a career of giving tours. He wanted a taste of the touring business when he applied to be a University 100 tour guide, but he didn’t get the job.

“I was like ‘Oh, this’ll be fun, to do tours around campus, why not,’” Wiener said. “And then I totally failed, and now that’s what I do for a living.”

During and after college, he played in a band, and would plan tour stops in cities with good pizza. Once he moved to New York City, Wiener often piled friends into a van to check out some of the hundreds of pizzerias in the area. From there, Scott’s Pizza Tours was born.Tour guide and fellow pizza expert Joe Garreffa describes each tour as a journey from the invention of pizza in Naples to its arrival in the United States to today. This adventure couldn’t happen without all of New York’s diverse pizzerias, serving up everything from Sicilian to wood-fired to even Chicago-style deep-dish pizza.

“We can literally cross one street and have that experience throughout time,” Garreffa said.

Miriam Weiskind, another tour guide, said she tries to make each tour as personal as possible. When people ask for pizza advice, she’ll first ask where they’re from. She knows people’s pizza preferences based on what region of the world they hail from. European guests tend to go for thin wood-fire pizza they can fold and eat. Weiskind can even distinguish Utah pizza from Vermont pizza. However, she doesn’t pretend to be the ultimate pizza authority.

“I never use the ‘b’ word or the ‘f’ word. The ‘b’ word is best and the ‘f’ is favorite,” Weiskind said. “It puts that person’s opinion in a box with you and they automatically assume what you say is correct.”

Instead, she encourages pizza fans to take their taste buds beyond the typical slice, which is easily accomplished on a tour. Attendees travel to three different pizzerias, and at each one they learn about what makes that pizzeria special.

They also try a signature slice, evaluating the balance of cheese to toppings to crust and discussing their findings. And by the end, they’ve usually found more than a new favorite, she said.

“You have these strangers, and by the end of the tour they’re all talking to each other, comparing notes like they’re old friends,” Weiskind said.

 

But Scott’s Pizza Tours isn’t all about finding the perfect crust density and measuring sausage-to-pepperoni ratios. That’s why Wiener started Slice Out Hunger, a nonprofit that uses people’s innate love of pizza to combat poverty.

Slice Out Hunger’s main annual event, dubbed NYC’s biggest pizza party, will take place on Oct. 7. More than 50 New York pizzerias donate pizza to Slice Out Hunger, which then sells slices for $1 and donates all the proceeds to food banks and other organizations focused on combatting hunger.

With additional support from sponsors, the event raises tens of thousands of dollars each year, Wiener said.

Although Slice Out Hunger began in New York City, more pizza parties are popping up nationwide. Wiener said he’s also looking to connect with college campuses that can put on their own events and spread the movement even further.

Wiener wants to rally people together through their love of pizza. Since pizza has given him so much, he wanted to give that back to people in as many ways as he could.

“Being pizza lovers, we treat food as an activity,” Wiener said. “And we know full well that a lot of people don’t have that luxury.”

Published on September 30, 2015 at 11:18 pm

Contact Kathryn: kjkrawcz@syr.edu | @kathrynkrawczyk