Pineapple pizza is back in the news, sparking a heated culinary debate once again. Recently, a restaurant in Norwich, England, decided to include this controversial ingredient on its menu, charging around €118 to add it to one of the most iconic dishes of Italian cuisine. Pizzeria Lupa has chosen to provoke and surprise, introducing pineapple to its online delivery menu.
The new menu of the delivery app Deliveroo does not skimp on provocations: “Yes, for 100 pounds you can have it. Order the champagne too! Come on, monster!” Despite the high price, customer response has so far been cold, with no orders placed. However, this is not the highest price ever recorded for a pineapple; last May, a red pineapple was sold on the Californian market for a whopping $395,99.
The origins of pineapple pizza date back to the 60s, when a Canadian chef decided to experiment by adding canned pineapple to a ham pizza. Sam Panapoulos created what he and his brother called 'Hawaiian pizza', an innovation that challenged Italian culinary conventions and that, six decades later, continues to divide opinion around the world.
The pineapple cooking debate: love or hate?
“I say ‘no’ to pineapple,” Lupa chef Quin Jianoran told CNN Travel by phone, noting that the Panapoulos brothers had mixed “sweet and sour Chinese flavors with a traditional Italian product.” Jianoran described the topic as “very controversial,” as it elicits mixed reactions: “People either love it or hate it. We’re just taking a stand.” Social media has also become a battleground, with comments ranging from enthusiasm for the idea to criticism that it’s eccentric.
The restaurant has announced plans to include pineapple on its monthly special menu, based on the results of a poll conducted by the Norwich Evening News, which currently shows the anti-pineapple camp overwhelmingly in favour, with 62 per cent of the vote. It has not yet been decided whether the £100 price tag will also apply to the physical restaurant. “My views might change!” laughed Jianoran. “It could be £200, it could be £2, who knows.”
Pineapple, traditionally avoided by Italian pizza chefs, has also seen an unexpected opening, as evidenced by the introduction of a pineapple pizza by Neapolitan pizza maestro Gino Sorbillo in Naples. Sorbillo said his intention was to “fight food prejudice” by expanding the debate on this controversial ingredient.
Pineapple pizza is something that always causes controversy, I don't understand why people are so divided. It's certainly not my favorite flavor, but everyone has the right to choose what they want to eat. I think it's fair.