Pizza is one of the most powerful symbols of Italian culture, especially Neapolitan culture. It's a dish that combines simplicity and craftsmanship, tradition and imagination. Pizza is considered a cult dish not only among Neapolitans but throughout the world.
Chef Francesco Muscariello, a true Neapolitan, deeply tied to his roots, tradition, culture and history of his beautiful city, Naples, has always captured everyone's attention with his dishes rich in flavors and smells of this city and its alleys, telling us their history and, at the same time, he has told us and shown us recipes and dishes from other splendid cities and other nations, as he has always shared the importance of evolution, fusion and innovation.
In fact, today, chef Muscariello shares with us his thoughts and his experience regarding a unique dish, much discussed, which is still at the center of great criticism, namely, pizza with pineapple.
To be precise, it is called Pizza Hawaina, made with cheese, tomato, slices of cooked ham and pieces of pineapple in syrup. It was born in Canada thanks to a Greek pizza chef Sam Panopoulos who, in 1954, tried pizza in Naples and then emigrated to Canada where he opened a pizza restaurant with his brothers and, being a fan of oriental cuisine and sweet and sour flavors, experimented, in 1962, with this unusual combination born for fun and necessity.
Pineapple pizza is very popular among Americans, Australians, Canadians and many other foreign peoples. It is no longer unknown and is becoming part of the list of menus of local restaurants and pizzerias as a "novelty" also prepared in a gourmet version.
Chef Muscariello relies on a Neapolitan pizza chef known for his experimental spirit in the kitchen, as well as a dear friend, GINO SORBILLO, who offers an interesting insight into the world of modern cuisine.
In fact, pizza with pineapple has been popularized by Gino Sorbillo who offers it in his new pizzeria PRESEPE NAPOLETANO (Palazzo Spinelli in via Tribunali) where, obviously, it has been criticized but also praised.
Chef Muscariello reveals that the pineapple pizza presented by Sorbillo with ricotta cheese, Agerola fior di latte, pepper and pineapple lightly sautéed in cinnamon, is truly exquisite…with that truly very interesting sweet and sour flavor…this is because the use of unconventional ingredients (like pineapple) should not be seen as heresy but as an exploration of infinite culinary possibilities.
Therefore, chef Muscariello, recommends trying this dish and others, without being influenced by negative comments or positive appreciations, choosing to be in favor or against, without prejudice or discrimination.
Finally, chef Muscariello, reminds us that cooking is an art in continuous evolution and innovation is a fundamental element for its development…in practice, as the world changes and transforms, it also evolves, pizza can find new expressions, always respecting its history but looking to new horizons.
Try it!!!
Valeria Barbaraci
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