British brothers traveled the world to research their book about pizza

NEW YORK - Brothers Thom and James Elliot left out their first pizza experience as children in southern England's Dorsett County from their new book devoted to the dish.

"The tiny little frozen hockey puck pizzas that you got as a kid with the tiny squares of ham on them," James said.

The Elliots spent the last nine years on a pizza pilgrimage, traveling through more than 20 countries to taste as many variations of the staple as they could find, after quitting their jobs in 2012 to go study pizza in Naples.

"You have that first bite and you're like: How have I lived 29 years and not eaten a pizza like this before?" Thom said.

The Elliots returned to the United Kingdom and opened a chain of Pizza Pilgrims pizzerias they hope recreate the brothers' first Naples experience for their countrymen.

"Our slogan for the company is: hot pizza, cold beer," Thom said.

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But the brothers also continued traveling and sampling different pies.

"We kind of had a moment where we were like: Hang on a second, I think we might know quite a lot about pizza now," James said.

A publisher told the Elliots that pizza as a subject probably couldn't carry an entire book but the brothers disagreed, pivoting from a pizza-pedia of sorts to a love letter addressed to their favorite food ("Pizza," Quadrille).

"Because everyone loves pizza," James said. "It's just a real joyful subject."

While the Elliots promise they'll always find joy in a hot slice of pizza ("An awful pizza," Thom said, "I don't think really exists.") they admitted to periods of pizza fatigue.

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"We've been to Naples for sort of two-day trips and eaten like 42 pizzas in that time," Thom said.

"Have you seen the documentary 'Free Solo' about the guy who does the climbing up El Capitan?" James asked. "We're basically that but for pizza."

The Elliots' 3,000-pizzeria-and-counting quest to go where others won't for pizza has brought them everywhere from Beirut to Tokyo.

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"I would probably go on record and say the pizza in Tokyo is better than the pizza in Naples," James said. "Because they bring that kind of sushi-level of obsession to the product."

The brothers hope to visit Brazil for a future pizza project ("There are more Italians in Sao Paolo than there are in Rome," Thom said) but quickly shut down any suggestion they might pivot their research to a different dish.

"Pizza guys for life," James said.

"That's right," Thom said. "That's it. One ticket. One trip."