The debate is almost as old as time: does pineapple have its place on pizza or should those who indulge in this practice be heavily judged? Francis Woolf made his decision a long time ago. The man runs a pizzeria in the English city of Norwich, in the east of the country. “I hate pineapple on pizza”, he told the Guardian bluntly. But Francis Woolf didn’t just hate this ingredient. He decided to dissuade his customers from ordering them as much as possible.
The pizzeria menu does indeed contain the mention “Hawaiian Pizza”. But next to the dish, we discover another inscription: “Yes, for £100 you can have it. Have some champagne with it, while you’re at it!” No question, therefore, of having a pineapple pizza delivered from this shop for less than 118 euros. Pizza is starting to get expensive.
The majority of French people believe that pineapple has no place on pizza
However, English society is not so resistant to Hawaiian fashion. In 2017, the pollster YouGov carried out a study to find out the opinions of several European populations on the issue. 53% of the British then said they were fond of pineapple on their pizza. The French were much less categorical in this survey since only 26% of us admit to liking the combination of ingredients.
If the survey did not give the opinion of Italians on the subject, it is easy to imagine it. Just look at the reactions that Neapolitan chef Gino Sorbillo’s new menu provoked at the start of the year. According to CNN, the fact that he added a revisited pineapple pizza – without tomato sauce, white base, three types of cheese and caramelized fruit – earned him the wrath of Internet users. Even if the pizza maker has made the rediscovery of surprising ingredients the basis of his pizzas – mozzarella mousse, olive powder, jams – the pineapple always seems too much.
Who is behind the invention of pineapple pizza?
If we had to point the finger at someone responsible for this endless debate, we would have to turn to Greece. This is where Sam Panopoulos, the father of pineapple pizza, was born. By 1954, the 20-year-old had emigrated to Canada and opened several restaurants in Ontario. In the 1960s, he had the idea of offering pineapple in pizzas.
For Sam Panopoulos, this choice was a way to celebrate the inclusion of Hawaii as a new state of the United States in 1959. He used Hawaiian brand canned pineapples. This little nod to American political history has become an extremely divisive subject of debate.
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