When Jorge Mejia closed on his $445,000 townhouse in suburban Atlanta this month, he didn’t celebrate with Champagne or steak. Standing in his empty kitchen, he took a picture of a pepperoni pizza in its cardboard delivery box framed by his new house keys and a bare living room floor, and then proudly posted it to Reddit.
“The pizza symbolized years of hard work,” said Mr. Mejia, 28, who is a staff sergeant in the Marines and the first person in his immediate family to buy a home. He had seen similar pizza box pictures posted in a Reddit group, FirstTimeHomeBuyer, for more than a year, he said, and had been waiting to finally be able to upload his own.
Pizza — affordable yet celebratory, easily eaten by hand while sitting cross-legged on a carpet — has long been a move-in meal. But today, sharing an image online of an open pizza box on the floor is a rite of passage for some first-time homeowners.
Videos and photos like Mr. Mejia’s now appear across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. They are especially conspicuous on the FirstTimeHomeBuyer Reddit group, which is primarily used for discussing the minutiae of contracts, interest rates or inspections.
Pizza pictures have grown so common in the group that some of its members say they are looking forward to taking a pizza photo as shorthand for buying a home. A few curmudgeons, meanwhile, have started complaining that the photos distract from the real advice. This has led to inspired discussions about the tradition of getting takeout on your first night in a new home, and pizza in general.
“Over the last year, I don’t know if the Reddit has been influencing me,” Mr. Mejia said, “but pizza has become one of my favorite foods.”
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The post The Ideal Moving Day Meal, Updated for the Online Era appeared first on New York Times.
