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'An insult to his culture': Italian chef loses job after refusing to put pineapple on pizza
Euronews.com • • world
Key Points:
- In 1962, Sam Panopoulos, a Greek restaurant owner in Ontario, Canada, invented Hawaiian pizza by adding pineapple to pizza, sparking a long-standing culinary debate about the topping's legitimacy.
- Italian chef Davide Tamburella, working in Australia, refused multiple times to make Hawaiian pizza, calling it an insult to Italian culture, which led to his dismissal from La Costa Restaurant and Bar.
- Tamburella filed an unfair dismissal claim with Australia’s Fair Work Commission, but his case was dismissed due to late filing and not meeting legal criteria.
- Tamburella’s former employer stated there was more to the dismissal than the pizza topping dispute, and La Costa Restaurant closed in July due to high operational costs.
- Tamburella is now head chef at Don Gino in Brisbane, where pineapple is notably absent from the pizza menu.
