In December 2023, the price of store-bought pizza and quiche in the EU was, on average, 5.9% higher than in December 2022. Looking back to December 2022, the average stood 15.9% higher than in December 2021.
"This indicates a slower rate of inflation of the price of pizzas and quiches in 2023," said Eurostat in what is clearly an accurate, if unimaginative, statement.
However, peeling away the topping and getting down to the base reveals that Latvia is among the countries where pizza costs continue to rise more than a stuffed crust.
Among EU countries, the highest annual inflation for pizza and quiche in December 2023 was recorded in Hungary (+13.4%), followed by Luxembourg (+11.3%) and Latvia (+10.6%).
On the other end of the scale, in the Netherlands, a decline of -0.9% was registered, while small increases were recorded in Denmark (+0.6%) and Belgium (+1.0%).
Infuriatingly, both Lithuania (+3.8%) and Estonia (+3.4%) recorded much less pizza inflation than Latvia, while Italy, which gave the world this great culinary masterpiece in the first place, recorded pizza inflation of just 4.3%.
Why are Latvians having to pay so much more to satisfy their cravings for their pizza, calzone and (to a considerably lesser extent) quiche? We don't know, but if the trend continues it may eventually be cheaper to order one delivered direct from Napoli.
