Grandiosa
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Grandiosa (also known as Grandis or Grandi) refers to the most popular frozen pizza in Norway. Grandiosa can also refer to the series of different Grandiosa variants. Grandiosa is originally an Italian word for great.

Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Market share
3 Varieties
4 Doubt surrounding the binding-agent being used in the 'pizza-meat' mixture
5 References
6 External links



[edit] History
Production of the original Grandiosa started on February 11, 1980, then produced by Nora (now Stabburet) in Stranda in Møre og Romsdal. Grandiosa was one of the first frozen pizzas produced in Norway. The pizza became vastly popular and is still the most sold pizza brand in Norway, in defiance of increasing competition from other local and international brands. In 2002 Stabburet responded to increased competition in the frozen food segment by revived the brand with creative marketing and several new versions of Grandiosa. The pizza is also exported in smaller numbers to the neighbouring countries Sweden and Finland.

The pizza is subject to a lot of humorous debate, and is unquestionably a piece of modern culture, loathed and loved by Norwegians. It has has been called the "modern national dish" by some, others claim it is "a piece of cardboard", "laziness in a box" and even "refrigerated evil".[1]

In 2005 Grandiosa got its own unofficial book: "GrandiosaLAND". The book contains stories about the man who had a broken jaw and had to put his Grandiosa in the mix master so he could eat it, and many other stories about Grandiosa, and Norwegian favourite past times such as "hyttetur" (trips to cabins typically located close to the sea/fjords or up in the mountains), "russetid" (the close to lawless celebration of the high school diploma) and "dugnad" (the collective activity of helping one another with community tasks).


[edit] Market share
Grandiosa benefited from being first to the market and early creating surprisingly loyal customers. Lately Stabburet has used creative marketing to promote Grandiosa. Examples are their very successful SMS-vote marketing campaign for selecting new addition to the pizza in 2004. Another example is their hit mobile ring tone "Respekt for Grandiosa" (Respect for Grandiosa) which 300,000 downloaded within 1.5 months.[2]

A total of 260 million pizzas have been sold. Twenty million units of Grandiosa are produced each year for the 4.67 million citizens of Norway.[3] The average person eats about 5 Grandiosa pizzas per year showing how extremely popular "Grandis" is among young people. The reason for its popularity is that it is a Norwegian product, that it is easy to make, and, according to some, that it tastes nice. It is prepared in a stove for approximately 12 minutes at 225 degrees Celsius. 100 grams of Grandiosa gives 220 kcal (920 kJ). The normal price for a Grandiosa is about 25 NOK (about $4), and about 45 NOK (nearly $8) for the Lørdagspizza (Saturday Pizza).


[edit] Varieties
In addition to the original Grandiosa, there exists different varieties.

Introduced Name Type Notes
November 11, 1980 Grandiosa 'pizza-meat', cheese, tomato sauce and red bell pepper The original Grandiosa
2002 Grandiosa Mild Taco Taco spiced meat and tortilla chip Discontinued in favour of Kjøttdeig & Løk
2004 Grandiosa Pepperoni Pepperoni and oregano Lost to Kjøttdeig & Løk but is still sold regardless
2004 Grandiosa Kjøttdeig & Løk Minced meat and onion Winner of the 2004 pizza election
2005 Grandiosa Taco Taco spiced meat and corn Winner of the 2005 pizza election
2005 Grandiosa Pølse & Tomat Sausage and tomato Lost the election to Taco
Grandiosa Porsjonspizza Portion Pizza Small, plate-sized pizza
2006 Grandiosa Lørdagspizza Meatballs, beef and a dip Translates to Saturday Pizza. Needs extra sour cream for dip.
2007 Grandiosa Full Pakke Meatballs, beef, dip, pepperoni and ham.


[edit] Doubt surrounding the binding-agent being used in the 'pizza-meat' mixture
There is some doubt surrounding which binding-agent Stabburet is using in the 'pizza-meat' mixture. (A mixture which is containing forthy percent meat from cattle, according to Stabburet).

On one webpage, from the Stabburet website, it says that the binding-agent being used is soy-protein[4], while on another webpage, also on the Stabburet website, it says the the binding-agent being used is gelatine based on swine.[5]

So it could seem like the company itself is a bit uncertain regarding which binding-agent that is really being used in the mixture.

Also, more questions surrounding Pizza Grandiosa, have been brought up, in a thread, on the Norwegian online newspaper TV2 Nettavisen's message-board 'Veggavisen'.[6]

It seems like there could be a small paradox, or maybe even a small mystery, surrounding the fact that many Grandiosa pizza-editions (including the famous and big-selling Grandiosa Orginal/Classic), all being produced on the Stabburet Grandiosa-factory in Stranda in Norway, are being sold in very large quantities in Norway and Finland, while they are not being sold in Sweden or Denmark at all.

In Sweden and Denmark, only Grandiosa-editions produced on the Orkla-owned Procordia pizza-factory in Dalarna in Sweden, and on the Big One pizza-factory in Stranda in Norway, are being sold.

In Stranda, there are in fact two pizza-factories. One Big One pizza-factory (The pizzas produced on this factory are being sold as 'Big One' pizzas in Norway, and as 'Grandiosa Big One' in Sweden and Finland), and one Grandiosa pizza-factory (The pizzas being produced here are only sold in Norway and Finland).

The two pizza-factories, in the remote West-Norwegian municipality of Stranda, are being run completely separatly, and each of them have got their own separate pizza-bread bakery.

These facts has led to that there have been questions raised, regarding the contence of the pizzas produced at the Stabburet Grandiosa pizza-factory in Stranda, since these pizzas are not being sold at all in eighter Sweden or Denmark, even if they are, by far, the most sold frozen pizza-types in Norway, and are also being sold in large quantities in Finland.

(This is being shown in the thread from the TV2 Nettavisen's message-board, Veggavisen, refered to above).


[edit] References
^ Sverre Bjørstad Graff (2002-07-01). Grandiosa - den store testen! (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
^ Joakim Thorkildsen (2006-03-14). 300 000 har lastet ned Grandiosa-låt (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
^ Stabburet. Merker og Produkter - Grandiosa (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2006-10-14.
^ Stabburet. Storhusholdning: Produktkatalog - Grandiosa Pizza 10x585g (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Stabburet. Ernæring og helse - Næringstabeller - Grandiosa (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Veggavisen. Kultur - Mat og drikke - Hvordan kjøtt er det i Pizza Grandiosa? (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.

[edit] External links
Grandiosa Norway
Grandiosa Finland
Grandiosa Sweden
GrandiosaLANDs homepage
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiosa"
Categories: Norwegian cuisine | Orkla Group | Frozen pizza brands