An Italian Chef Says He Was Fired After Refusing to Put Pineapple on a Pizza

This was two years ago, right around Halloween, which explains the costumes. Joe Rogan and Elon Musk took a break from talking about space travel and whether or not we all live in a simulation long enough to discuss Dave Portnoy's pizza revues. Then ended up getting a pizza delivery with anchovies and pineapple. When the most listened-to podcaster and the world's richest man are talking about the guy who used to deliver newspapers with your articles around Boston in an Astrovan, it's almost enough to make you think Musk's simulation theory is at least plausible. 

But according to one chef in Italy, the very act of putting that particular tropical fruit on a pizza, is an act of cultural and gastronomic heresy. One so offensive that he was willing to lose his job over it:

Source -  An Italian chef sacked from a Brisbane restaurant had refused to put pineapple on a pizza because it was an 'insult to his culture'.

Davide Tamburella was fired from the now-closed La Costa restaurant in May, a fortnight after a meeting with management who had a string of complaints about the chef's behaviour.

Among them were Tamburella's refusal to provide ham and pineapple pizza for guests at a function. At the time, the chef had stated that any direction from management 'need not be followed when it is offensive to his culture'.

Far be it for me to tell Davide Tamburella what is an isn't offensive to his culture. Silvio Dante, I am not:

But few things about his decision. First, there's an old expression that goes back a lot further in his homeland than pizza itself. "When in Rome, do as Romans do."  Or in his case, as Australians do. When the people of Brisbane want fruit on their pies, you provide it or state your objections walking, pal. The kitchen door swings both ways. 

Second, pineapple on pizza is objectively delicious. After Rogan and Musk had it with anchovies, I made some at home and was a little underwhelmed. I still prefer ham. Or to make it truly Hawaiian, Spam. Others do it with bacon or proscuitto. But that's a matter of personal taste. What isn't personal is going to another country halfway around the world and lecture them about toppings. That's offensive to a culture, Chef Boy-ar-dee. 

Lastly, this is not the hill you want to die on if you have even the slightest knowledge of the history of food in that region. What we know as Italian cuisine didn't exist until about 1861, because Italy didn't. The peninsula was a loose association of nation-states, all with different cultures, dialects, governments, histories, agricultural products and cooking methods. When the region united, the Prime Minister of Sardinia said, “Italy has been made; now we must make Italians.” Food was a major part of that. 

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A few decades later, the first truly Italian cookbook, Pellegrino Artusi’s "La Scienza in Cucina e L'arte di Mangiar Bene" was published. And provided a common language of cooking, helping to create a truly cohesive, united Italy. 

That ramped up under Mussolini, of all people, in the 1920s. The Fascists propaganda promoted the concept of “alimentary sovereignty," which shaped a unified national identity through eating habits. 

So if Tamburella wants to live his life thinking that Leonardo invented the Domino's app or whatever, he needs to check himself. Da Vinci was the smartest man on Earth, but he wouldn't have known what a tomato was if you hit him in the face with one, since they weren't brought to Italy from South America until 1544, 25 years after he died. Whereas legendary Italian takeout pioneer Christopher Columbus brought the first pineapple back to Europe in 1496. 

So nice try, Chef. But ignorant of history and not worth losing your job over. Even a stupid Irishman like me could've told you that.