Solidarity, as Middle Eastern potentates are quickly discovering, is a powerful thing. And it can take some rather unusual forms.

One night last week, Ian's Pizza in Madison, Wisconsin, received an order from some hungry protesters at the state capitol – where the Republican government is attempting to pass a bill that, among a range of harsh budget cuts, proposes to remove the collective bargaining rights of about 300,000 workers – asking if they had any leftovers. They did, and, even though it was 3.30am, obliged.

The next day they took a couple of calls from people who had heard about their gesture and wanted to order more pizzas for the protesters, who number in the tens of thousands, and have been demonstrating for nearly a week. A trickle, to coin a cliche, became a flood: by 5pm on Saturday, when they gave away 1,057 free slices at their restaurant and delivered more than 300 pizzas to the capitol, Ian's had to suspend normal business.

On Sunday it all began again.Calls were coming in not just from the States (38 of the 50, at last count), but from all over the globe: Ian's Facebook page (of course) carries a picture of the chalkboard on which they are keeping track – Canada, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Germany, China, the UK, the Netherlands, Korea, Turkey – and Egypt. Take on Mubarak and win, apparently, and you can take on the world.