2024, Food, Media, News

In a Pickle Over Pineapple

50 Comments

The symbol of hospitality is taking a beating in Italy this week.  A famous pizza maestro in Naples, Gino Sorbillo has added pineapple pizza to his menu.  Horror of horrors according to many Italians.

The pizza is actually a white pizza, cheese and twice-baked pineapple: no tomatoes and no pepperoni!  According to Sorbillo, most of the folks who have been brave enough to try it have been happy with the new taste.  But for many, this new pizza topping is a sacrilege; Sorbillo has taken a beating on social media and a food critic even denounced the offering on national tv.

Like other uproars, I don’t get it.  If you can’t stand the thought of pineapple on your pizza, then don’t order pineapple on your pizza.  I know that some folks with allergies can’t even be in the same room with their allergens, but I think if you’re allergic to pineapples you can’t count on any restaurant to be safe for you without research.  I’ve been a vegetarian for 51 years and I don’t get my shorts in a bunch if meat is on the menu.

YA likes pineapple on her pizzas quite a bit.  While I like pineapple, I’ve learned over the years that pineapple doesn’t like me much; I get a sour stomach even if I have something with pineapple juice in it.  I do adore all kinds of olives on my pizzas though.   Any pizza that gets delivered to our house usually has half pineapple, half olives!

What do you like on your pizza? 

50 thoughts on “In a Pickle Over Pineapple”

  1. pineapple and black olives has been my go to pizza for years
    i love the tomato pineapple counterbalance
    pineapple by itself is ok but i’ve really come to appreciate the pairing rather than pineapple bread.

    black olive pesto is also a favorite

    lots of green and black olive pizza too but i prefer kalamata olives both green and black vs the standard black and pemento stuffed green

    black olives are also a big part of my chili recipe

    hungry at 6. it won’t be raisin bran today

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      1. mobile like i can do stairs without tears

        i can’t drive for a month or so

        slow going

        the leg got messed up enough in the break i need to reconnect so muscle nerve stuff before i can run the hurdles again

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  3. I’m ecumenical when it comes to pizza. I’ve even had the so-called Hawaiian pizza which entails ham and pineapple. It was acceptable but not my first choice. A lot of the pizza experience depends on the crust. A soggy crust is ruinous no matter the toppings.
    Given free rein I would tend toward sausage and mushroom and green pepper.

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  4. We avoid pineapple of any sort here. I don’t mind it as much as Husband does. We like thinner crusts on pizza. Sausage and black olives are good toppings.

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  5. I like a cracker-thin crust with a white garlic sauce, feta cheese, red onions, green peppers, and Kalamata olives. It’s also nice to have a sprinkle of oregano and red chili peppers.

    I like the same thin crust with white garlic sauce and spinach, artichokes and chicken too but my first choice has the olives on it.

    There are so many yummy kinds of pizza out there. Pineapple on it is interesting and I’ve tried it, it’s okay, but I wouldn’t ask for it.

    I caught up on the late night comments this morning and I loved the Eric Satie piece chosen by tim. Beautiful way to enjoy coffee while relaxing in front of the fire to start my day. Thanks!

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    1. I just had a Greek pizza last week at Latte in St Paul. Fabulous. I make it myself a couple of times a year but food served to me that I didn’t have to make myself always tastes just a smidge better.

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  6. Mushrooms. For some reason I just love mushrooms on pizza with almost anything. Olives are good too, esp. calamata.

    Some people like to be purists about something – I wonder if there’s anything I could call myself a purist about – thinking…

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  7. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I have been trying making thin crusts here, Neapolitan style with some success. I also like fresh Mozarella cheese and pesto on mine in the place of the traditional tomato sauce.

    Between Christmas and New Years day I made a pizza here. That prompted Lou and I to discuss the Bad Old Days of American cuisine, meaning the late 50s through the 60s when cooking changed drastically to mixes and short cuts. (And the questionable Wonder Bread). The Chef Boyardee pizza mix emerged with the powdered cheese, canned sauce, and crust mix. It was not very good, like many of these items that sacrificed quality to convenience. By the time we were done trying to compensate for all the deficits of the mixes (for example in a cake mix, add extra oil and an extra egg for moisture. For a pizza add cheese and toppings) you might as well make it from scratch which is better anyway. The same was true of pizza, but pizza was not part of the Midwest cuisine at that time, so no one knew what it was supposed to taste like.

    But there was no pineapple.

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    1. My mom had her first pizza in college… it was cold and she wasn’t impressed. When I was growing up we never had “real” pizza… just the chef boyrdee stuff. Since the day I left home I have never had that again. Although I am happy to say that Nonny has been converted to real pizza.

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      1. This prompted me to reflect that I can’t remember ever having pizza of any sort at home when I was growing up. Pizza wasn’t completely unknown, as evidenced by the ersatz pizza-ish toppings on slices of bread or buns that the school cafeteria offered. I don’t know if my parents didn’t like pizza or if it was just off their radar. When did I first have pizza? Probably college.

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        1. I remember my first pizza very well. It was on the weekly rotation of meals served by wasband’s Italian mama. She’d make one large rectangular pizza on a sheet pan. Homemade dough, sauce, the works – it was excellent.

          I’ve had Hawaiian pizza, and it was OK, though I wouldn’t order it on my own.

          Feeling blue today. Bernie, our twelve year old dachshund died yesterday morning at 5 AM. He slipped off peacefully in his sleep, for that I’m grateful.

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        11. No, not unexpected. Roughly six weeks ago he was diagnosed with either liver or bladder cancer, and we knew it was a matter of time – short time – before he would succumb. He was a active, and happy to eat, until the day before he died, although he did sleep a lot. Thankfully he didn’t appear to be in pain or suffer. I was taking him outside to pee about every two hours around the clock, so I am pretty wiped out. The house feels pretty empty without him.

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        12. I’ll miss Bernie. He was a good watchdog, the kind of watchdog who loudly announces the presence of a visitor, but negotiates his space generously for a belly rub.

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  8. I love pineapple on pizzas. As Tim mentioned, it’s the contrast between the tomato sauce and the pineapple. I do like a Hawaiian pizza but prefer just the pineapple. There are several pizza toppings I will never order – sausage, mushrooms, green pepper, and anchovies. I also like a good Margherita pizza and Trader Joe’s roasted vegetable pizza (red bell pepper, eggplant, zucchini, onion).

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  9. Canadian back, onions (red or yellow), black olives, and spinach on mine most of the time. Italian sausage subbing for the CB is good too. Last week I had some leftover grilled lamb and put that on the pizza instead of the CB too. That was tasty. I’m a thin crust guy now, but back in my Chicagoland days, I really got into deep-dish pies like those served at Gino’s East. Delicious, but don’t plan on any strenuous activity for the next 12 hours after eating even a piece or two of that badboy. 🙂

    Chris in Owatonna

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  10. I am very old school in one regard: love anchovies on pizza. Still a lover of Chicago style pizza so of course cannot eat New York style.
    My favorite pizzeria though was on or near the UConn campus (weird campus, not sure what defines its semi rural boundaries). Makes or made back then all sorts of combinations that the Italians would abhor, such as with potatoes in various combinations.
    Clyde

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    2. When I was at Carleton, there were only a couple of places that served pizza in Northfield. And they would not deliver on campus. Great pizza at Bill’s but you had to go downtown to get it.

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        1. I always assumed it was some kind of agreement between the college and the pizza places. Not sure why – maybe a security thing? Or a “we don’t want empty pizza containers left all over the dorms” thing? I’m assuming that these days they can’t keep food delivery from happening on campus.

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  12. Our two favorite pizza spots are Punch and Boludo. But we don’t limit ourselves… Nola is nice as well as Black Sheep and we talked just a couple of days ago about trying Red Wagon, which is ridiculously close to our house, but we’ve never been there.

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        1. There are two locations open these days (not sure how many there were before…). The one we like is on “Eat Street” (Nicollet)

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  13. First memory of pizza was at a small restaurant in downtown Storm Lake, IA. Our going out to eat was a rare enough event, but here was this thing they called Pizza Pie – so I was expecting PIE, and didn’t like it.

    Then it started showing up at parties, and of course I learned to love it. But as mentioned above, we never had it at home… heck, take-out wasn’t around yet.

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  14. I grew up eating frozen pizza – Totino’s usually (at least as I recall). Going off to college and getting pizza delivered was a nice step up from that, even if the pizza was greasy.

    I will eat thin crust, thick crust, deep dish… you pretty much have me at “pizza.” Count me in the “yes” column for pineapple on pizza. Though clearly I am in the minority in saying no to olives (I just don’t like them). Ditto anchovies. There is a wild mushroom pizza from Pizza Luce I quite like – also their baked potato pizza (the faux bacon is pretty good if you want to go that route). I have my favorites from different places… fig and goat cheese, yup. Chicken, mushrooms, and spinach – you bet. Just please hold the olives. Pretty please.

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  15. I welcome almost any pizza. I’m not a fan of mushrooms, but they’re not a deal breaker. Same with pineapple.

    If it’s my choice, a chicken alfredo pizza or a pepperoni.

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  16. We / I love pizza! Saturday is our pizza night.
    Pepperoni and sausage for me. Extra cheese. Garlic, maybe a few onions.
    There was a place that made Pepperoni and cream cheese pizza and it was really good.
    Another local place here does thin wheat crust and that’s always good.
    Sometimes Kelly will do Hawaiian or veggie. Daughter loads up her gluten free pizza with pepperoni, chicken, beef, mushrooms, onions.

    I grew up with the green box pizza. Had to roll out the dough, it was hard to get it stretched to the corners of the pan. Then the can of sauce and packet of cheese. Never had meat for it. And mom if it with scissors.

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