Pizza Slice That Looks Like Dog Delights Internet: 'Borzoi Bread'

A slice of pizza that bears an eerie resemblance to a dog is giving pet lovers "paws" for thought.

Footage of the doggy doppelganger pie has proven pup-ular on TikTok ever since it was posted to the social media platform by dogandpine.

At the time of writing it had been viewed over 12 million times, with users howling at the striking similarities. Judge it for yourself here.

The clip starts with a seemingly innocent shot of a standard cheese and tomato pizza. The dip accompanying the pie appears to indicate it comes from Papa Johns.

Moments later, the dog lookalike slice comes into view and it's uncanny to say the least. Two eyes appear visible within the cheese topping along with a snout.

While the imagined dog's face may be a thin one, it bears a striking resemblance to a Russian wolfhound, albeit one made from a heady combination of cheese, tomato and dough.

This isn't the first time a face has been spotted in an inanimate object. It's not even the first time a face has been seen in a cheese-based foodstuff.

Back in 1994, Diane Duyser from Florida hit the headlines after discovering an image of the Virgin Mary in a toasted cheese sandwich she had made. A decade later, the now-inedible sandwich was sold for $28,000 on eBay.

This slice of pizza is unlikely to fetch that kind of money at sale. More to the point, it's probably already been consumed by the person behind the viral video.

But both are examples of pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon that causes individuals to see familiar objects, patterns or faces in random everyday objects.

Ancient Origins

Pareidolia might sound like a modern concern brought about by people having too much time on their hands, but it actually has its origins in the stone age.

Christopher French of the British Psychological Society explained the theory to the BBC: "We've evolved brains that think in these quick, dirty ways that are usually right, but at times can lead us to systematically be biased."

"A classic example is the Stone Age guy standing there, scratching his beard, wondering whether that rustling in the bushes really is a sabre-toothed tiger. You're much more likely to survive if you assume it's a sabre-toothed tiger and get the hell out of there - otherwise you may end up as lunch."

Essentially, French is saying that our inclination to see faces and patterns in random places is something that is hardwired into us as part of a human survival mechanism.

In the age of the internet and smartphones, when platforms like TikTok are flooding us with images and videos at a breakneck pace, it's understandable that sightings of this kind may occur more often.

Throw in the fact that it's a combination of two of the online world's most popular things - dogs and pizza - and it is little wonder fans ended up flocking to the clip.

One user branded the pizza featured in the footage "borzoi bread" while a second wondered: "How do you even notice this?" Others found themselves distracted, with one user confessing "this made me hungry," while another admitted they were "sobbing" over the footage.

Whatever the case, you may never look at a cheese pizza the same way again.

Newsweek reached out to dogandpine for comment.

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