Pizza beans, a cozy dish from Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen cookbook, have unexpectedly landed at the center of a true crime saga. This humble casserole hit the headlines when TMZ reported it was on the menu for Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
What started as a simple recipe has turned into a viral sensation, sparking memes and a renewed love for this comfort food classic.
What Is the Viral Pizza Beans Moment?
Pizza beans became an unlikely viral hit when TMZ reported they were part of Luigi Mangione’s prison menu at SCI Huntingdon in Pennsylvania. Mangione, accused of a high-profile murder, inadvertently brought the dish into the spotlight. The news triggered a storm of social media reactions, memes, and a spike in Google searches for the recipe. What began as a quirky cookbook favorite has become a strange blend of food culture and true crime curiosity.
What Are Pizza Beans?
From Deb Perelman’s cookbook to viral fame: the story behind this cozy dish
Created by Deb Perelman in 2017 for her cookbook Smitten Kitchen Every Day, pizza beans combine Greek-style baked beans with the indulgence of baked ziti. The dish swaps pasta for hearty beans and layers in flavors like crushed tomatoes, kale, garlic, parmesan, and mozzarella.
It’s comforting, easy to prepare, and endlessly adaptable. While it began as a practical recipe for home cooks, its current notoriety stems from its surprising role in a high-profile true crime case.
Why Is It Trending?
True crime, media spectacle, and unexpected connections fuel the buzz around pizza beans.
Pizza beans are trending because they intersect with the public’s fascination with true crime, media spectacle, and the unexpected connections between everyday life and extraordinary events. The buzz began when TMZ revealed that Luigi Mangione, a suspect in a high-profile murder case, was being served pizza beans in prison. This peculiar detail added an intriguing layer to an already sensational story, drawing people in.
Part of the public’s interest in Mangione stems from the broader context of his alleged crime: a murder tied to frustrations with healthcare access. For some, this detail elicits empathy, adding complexity to how people engage with the case.Social media amplified this mix of intrigue and compassion, turning the mundane detail of a prison menu into a cultural flashpoint.
This moment reflects a broader cultural tendency to find meaning, humor, or even absurdity in the mundane details of sensational stories. It’s not just about pizza beans—it’s about how we process stories, build connections, and explore our curiosity about the ordinary lives of those at the center of extraordinary events.
What Does It Say About Us?
The pizza beans saga reflects our curiosity about human stories and societal systems.
The viral fascination with pizza beans reveals our collective interest in the small, humanizing details of larger-than-life stories. In a high-profile case like Luigi Mangione’s, a mundane menu item like pizza beans offers a point of connection—a way for the public to imagine the day-to-day life of someone at the center of extraordinary drama.
This curiosity isn’t simply voyeuristic; it’s rooted in a broader psychological desire to understand. True crime narratives, particularly those involving unexpected or mundane details, allow us to process complex stories in a way that feels relatable. Social media amplifies this effect, turning small moments into cultural phenomena that are both humorous and thought-provoking.
At its core, this story isn’t about food. It’s about the way the media and society frame details to make larger narratives feel tangible. Pizza beans, whether they’re served in a prison cafeteria or discussed in viral memes, reflect our need to connect the extraordinary with the everyday. They show how we use culture to explore human behavior, storytelling, and even ourselves.
Pizza beans may seem like an odd cultural moment, but they remind us how fascinated we are with the intersections of the ordinary and the extraordinary. Whether they’re served in a prison cafeteria or become the subject of internet humor, pizza beans highlight the small details that make larger narratives resonate. In the end, they’re a mirror, reflecting our curiosity about the human experience—even in its most unexpected forms.