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 Pizzas produced on the Grandiosa pizza-factory in Stranda, not being sold in Sweden
6 References
7 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 it is, that is being used in the 'pizza-meat' mixture.[4]

On one of the webpages on the Stabburet website, it's saying that the binding-agent being used is soy protein[5], while on another webpage on the Stabburet website, it's saying that the binding-agent being used is gelatin based on swine.[6]

Questions surrounding the binding-agent, were also brought up in an article in the online editon of the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet in 1997, where the factory-managers are claiming that they have recently been switching the binding-agent from soy protein to gelatin.[7]

On the Grandiosa boxes, it's saying that the binding-agent being used is soy protein.[8][9][10]


[edit] Pizzas produced on the Grandiosa pizza-factory in Stranda, not being sold in Sweden
There seems to be a small paradox surrounding the fact that the extremely popular Grandiosa Original pizzas aren't being sold in Sweden, even if the less popular Big One pizzas are.[11]

In Sweden, only pizzas produced on the Orkla Group owned Procordia pizza-factory in Vansbro in Dalarna in Sweden[12], and on the Stabburet Big One pizza-factory in Stranda in Norway, are being sold.[13]

In the West-Norwegian municipality of Stranda, there are actually two Stabburet pizza-factories. One Big One factory, and one Grandiosa factory.[14]

The pizzas produced on the Big One factory, are being sold as 'Big One' pizzas in Norway[15], and as 'Grandiosa Pan Pizza' in Sweden and Finland.[16][17]

The pizzas produced on the Grandiosa factory are being sold as 'Grandiosa' pizzas in Norway, and as 'Grandiosa Perhepizzat' in Finland.[18]


[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. Storhusholdning: Produktkatalog - Grandiosa Pizza 10x585g (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Stabburet. Ernæring og helse - Næringstabeller - Grandiosa (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Dagbladet. Forretningshemmelighet til 25,90 (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Veggavisen. Kultur - Mat og drikke - Hvordan kjøtt er det i Pizza Grandiosa (In this message-board thread, one of the users has added a picture of the Pizza Grandiosa box, taken with a digital camera, showing that it's saying on the box, that the binding-agent being used is soy protein) (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
^ Islam.no. Salam Diskusjonsforum - Pludring og prat - Topic: Bacon-snacks (The users of this muslim message-board, seems to think that the binding-agent being used is soy protein) (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
^ Grandiosa. Perhepizzat - Grandiosa (Click the 'Grandiosa Classic 585g'-link, to see that it's saying on the Finnish Grandiosa-website, that the binding-agent being used is 'soijaproteiina', soy protein) (Finnish). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Grandiosa. Hitta din idealpizza (Click 'Pizzor' on the webpage, to get to the menu showing pictures of the different pizza-types being sold in Sweden) (Swedish). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Procodia Food AB. Våra produktionsanläggningar - Vansbro, Dalarna (Click 'OM PROCORDIA FOOD' and 'Produktionsanläggningar' on the webpage, to see the different production-sites) (Swedish). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
^ Grandiosa. Hitta din idealpizza (Click 'Pizzor' on the webpage, to get to the menu showing pictures of the different pizza-types being sold in Sweden) (Swedish). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Veiatlas.no - Din reiseplanlegger med presentasjon av norske hjørnestensbedrifter. Stabburet AS Stranda, Kyrkjegata (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Stabburet. Merker og produkter - Pizza - Big One Pizza (Norwegian). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
^ Grandiosa. Hitta din idealpizza (Click 'Pizzor' on the webpage, to get to the menu showing pictures of the different pizza-types being sold in Sweden) (Swedish). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Grandiosa. Grandiosa - Pannupizzat (Finnish). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
^ Grandiosa. Grandiosa - Perhepizzat (Finnish). 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