During tough moments in our nation's history, pizza has always been there. American soldiers stationed in Italy during World War II ate pizza in droves, introduced to the GIs through local street vendors. When President Barack Obama and his Cabinet were hunkered down in the Situation Room during the 2011 Osama bin Laden raid, they ordered pizza to get through the night.

Amid the 2008 economic crisis, pizza parlors posted booming sales. "It is the thing that people go to in times of need," says Scott Wiener, the director of Slice Out Hunger, a nonprofit dedicated to providing hunger relief in the form of pizza. Now, during a once-in-a-generation pandemic, pizza is once again answering the call.