Pizza Index

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The Pizza Index refers to the sudden increase of takeout food orders (not necessarily of pizza) made from government offices, particularly the Pentagon and the White House in the United States, before major international events unfold.

As government officials stay late at the office to monitor developing situations such as war or coups, they order food delivery thereby signaling that they are expecting something big to happen. This index can be monitored through open resources such as Google Maps, which show when a business location is abnormally busy.

This index can be used by those not employed by these agencies to get an idea of what a government, particularly its intelligence agencies, is focusing on or expecting to happen in the next few hours or days.

An example of this occurrence happened on the night of August 1 1990, right before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, during which the Central Intelligence Agency ordered 21 pizzas in a single night. This event signaled that the US expected war to break out between the two countries before any public confirmation was made in the media or on TV.