Grilled Cheese Pizza: A Cheesy Trend?

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​Grilled cheese pizza was the winner of the Pizza Inn's in-house contest across the chain to come up with new types of pizza for its national menu. 

Though a variant abomination is portrayed on This Is Why You're Fat  -- with quarters jutting from a single crust -- the Pizza Inn version

The grilled cheese pizza from Pizza Inn

​seems somewhat less disturbing. Created by Debbie Seaton, a 31-year veteran employee of the chain from Elizabethton, Tennessee, the pizza features a grilled cheese center that's a mix of mozzarella and cheddar with "grilled cheese sauce" that, we're guessing, is tomato. The release reads that it was "born out of simplicity and taste, reminiscent of the grilled cheese sandwiches mom would make." Seems extra cheesy to me.

Despite campaigns for more healthful eating, society's love affair with cheese is stoked by varying sources, the result of which translates to Americans eating an average of 33 pounds of cheese a year, triple the 1970 rate, reported the New York Times.

Exactly a year ago, the New York Times reported on how the marketing arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (funded by private producers) linked with Domino's to help them develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese, funded by a $12 million marketing campaign.

A year after launch, extra-cheese pizzas named "Domino's American Legends" dominate the menu with eight varieties, more than any style pizza on the menu.

The extra-cheese rationale touted on the website reads, "We've listened to you, America! You want MORE and we delivered, with our line of American Legends specialty pizzas. We fulfilled your need for more flavor, more variety, more toppings and most importantly -- MORE CHEESE." The site claims that 67 percent of consumers want more cheese on pizza.

Floridians will have to stick with Domino's and other chains' extra-cheese varieties, since the Dallas-based Pizza Inn has yet to enter Florida's pizza-saturated market. If you happen to come across one of the many locations across the country, the grilled-cheese pizza is now available at the buffet. Or if you're truly craving one, perhaps you could lobby your local pizzaiolo.

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