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Few events in culinary history spark as much debate as the choice made by a Canadian chef in the 1960s to top a ham pizza with canned pineapple.
When Sam Panapoulos created what he and his brother-slash-partner-in-crime dubbed Hawaiian pizza, it was a breach of Italian culinary protocol that would echo down through the ages.
Sixty years later, the debate over whether pineapple should be included on pizza continues to split nations, communities, and even families.
A pizzeria in Norwich, England, has boldly embraced the controversial topping by adding pineapple to its online delivery menu — albeit at a staggering price of £100 (approximately $122).
Surprisingly, this isn’t the highest price charged for pineapple in the past year — a $395.99 red-hued variant hit the California market last May — but it’s considerably higher than the dollar that a can of tinned pineapple would typically cost in a UK superstore.
“Yeah, for £100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on you Monster!,” jeers the new menu listing for Hawaiian on Lupa Pizza’s account on UK food delivery app Deliveroo.
It stands alongside well-loved classics like Napoli, Meatball, and Pepperoni, each priced at $17 or below.
"Say 'no' to pineapple."
“I refuse to use pineapple,” Lupa’s head chef Quin Jianoran shares with CNN Travel during a phone interview.
The Panapoulous brothers have combined "the sweet and sour tastes of Chinese cuisine with a classic Italian staple," he notes. "It sparks quite a debate, as there are those who absolutely adore it and others who can't stand it. We're simply making a bold statement."
Lupa’s head chef Quin Jianoran told CNN Travel that there have been no orders placed for the £100 pizza so far, but the online response has “dramatically shifted. It’s honestly hard to believe.”
The restaurant has promised to put pineapple on its monthly special board if the results of a poll in the Norwich Evening News, a local newspaper, go in the fruit’s favor.
The yellow underdog is making significant strides, currently leading the vote on the pineapple-on-pizza debate with an impressive 62%. However, it's still uncertain if the £100 price point will reflect the actual dish served at the physical restaurant.
Jianoran chuckles, “My opinions could shift at any moment! It might be £200, or perhaps just £2—who can say for certain?”
While pineapple has traditionally been shunned by Italian pizza-makers, a year ago Napoli pizza maestro Gino Sorbillo introduced a divisive ananas pizza to his menu in Via dei Tribunali, the best-known pizza street in Naples, the world capital of pizza. His intention, he said, was to “combat food prejudice.”
The debate over pineapple pizza has at times become so heated it almost triggered a political crisis. In 2017, the then Icelandic president, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, had to clarify that he would not be banning pineapple pizza in his country — and that he did not even have the power to legislate such a move — after his disdain for the combo went viral.
Although Jianoran leans towards classic toppings, his top choice for pizza is New York-style, where there are virtually no restrictions on the toppings they use.
Indeed, a New York pizzeria was named the best in the world in 2024. Una Pizza Napoletana, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, topped the Italy-based 50 Top Pizza Awards last September.
