We’re here to chat about the OG of controversial debates, is pineapple on pizza totally acceptable or an absolute abomination to the human race.
Like Marmite, Pizza fans seem to either to love it or hate it, but despite this bitter divide and mass criticism it’s received as a pizza topping, some of you lot must like it as its becoming one of the most requested toppings in the world…👀
So let’s break this debate down for a minute
Firstly (and stating the obvious), its sweet, like seriously sugary so what the hell is it doing nestled into some melted Mozzarella? Well sit back and let’s get into it! The world is full of fusion flavours, just look at how Chinese cuisine use sweet and sour in some of their most popular dishes, and we can’t forget sweet and salted popcorn which is a taste sensation!
Secondly, the humble pineapple is not native to Italy, so die-hard traditional pizza lovers often consider it off limits, just look at Gordon Ramsays reaction, he does not hold back!
And finally, you’ll often hear ‘what the bleedin’ hell is fruit doing on a pizza?!’ – technically tomatoes are a fruit too, so we’ll just leave that right there.
What’s the origin story of the not so humble Hawaiian pizza?
Pineapple on pizza is most notably combined with ham in the infamous ‘Hawaiian Pizza’, a creation with fusion at its core as it was created in 1962 by a Greek chef, based in Canada, making a dish of Italian origins, now that’s fusion!
The chef in question was Sam Panopoulos. He and his brother liked the balance of sweet and salty flavours, so experimented with the combination of salty ham and sweet pineapple. And although people think the pizza is named ‘The Hawaiian’ due to the pineapples grown in Hawaii, its actually the name of the brand of tinned pineapples they used to make the pizza 🤷♂️
We don’t think Sam realised what he started, as the debate is just as fierce to this day, even the notorious toppings stats (yes this is a thing) have been at odds over the years. The Hawaiian was voted the most popular pizza in Australia in 1999, accounting for a whopping 15% of pizza sales that year according to PMQ magazine. In contrast, the US don’t feel as strongly it seems, with pineapple being voted as the top three least favourite pizza toppings in the 2016 Harris Poll survey.
This topic has divided the guys and gals at Origin Pizza, most of us are not fans of putting pineapple on pizza, but we are fans of freedom of choice. So if putting little yellow triangles of sweetness on a pizza is your thing, then we salute you, you do you and we won’t judge.
And hey, if Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson likes it, who are we to argue (no really, we don’t fancy our chances).
