PASSIONATE PINEAPPLE DEBATE
It remains a popular topping here
For a change, the outrageous and polarizing presidential comments making headlines this week didn’t all emanate from south of the border.
Iceland has fallen under the heat lamp — but not for its position on border walls or immigration policies. The controversy is all about pineapple on pizza.
Gudni Johanesson unleashed a global reaction when his dislike for the sweet fruit as a pizza topping made waves on both sides of the ocean.
In answering a seemingly harmless question posed by a student during a high school visit last week, Iceland’s president said he would like to outlaw pineapple as a topping.
The story was picked up by The Guardian, CNN and USA Today and quickly sparked passionate pineapple debate on all manner of social media.
It even prompted a Facebook response from Johanesson assuring the worried public that he did not have the authority to ban pineapple or any other offensive ingredient.
“I like pineapples, just not on pizza,” Johanesson said in his post. “I do not have the power to make laws which forbid people to put pineapples on their pizza. I am glad that I do not hold such power.
“Presidents should not have unlimited power. I would not want to hold this position if I could pass laws forbidding that which I don’t like. I would not want to live in such a country. For pizzas, I recommend seafood.”
The CBC tracked down the Canadian pie maker responsible for first sprinkling a few pieces of canned pineapple on pizza back in 1962.
Sam Panopoulos owns the distinction of inventing what became known as Hawaiian pizza when he ran the Satellite Restaurant in Chatham.
Now 82 and living in retirement in London, Ont., Panopoulos told As it Happens that customers were slow to embrace the idea at first “but after that, they went crazy about it.”
Locally, Arcata Pizzeria owner Bob Abumeeiz was interviewed about the pineapple predicament by a Windsor television crew when he jokingly offered to ship Johanesson two properly dressed pies.
“I didn’t really send them,” Abumeeiz said Thursday. “It was just a joke.”
At another popular South Windsor pizzeria, Capri owner Jim Koumoutsidis said about 15 per cent of his customers order pineapple.
“And every large order we get always has one Hawaiian in it,” he said.
Koumoutsidis hadn’t heard about Johanesson’s comments but still had a message for him. “Tell him here in Windsor we eat pizza for breakfast,” he said, adding the days of simple pineapple and ham or pepperoni and cheese are fading.
“Everyone is looking for more, more flavours,” he said.
Over at Antonino’s Original Pizza, owner Joe Ciaravino said the Angry Hawaiian was his best seller years ago when he first started offering a combination of pineapple with hot peppers, ham and double bacon.
“People have very strong opinions about pineapple on pizza,” Ciaravino said. “I have friends who are chefs at high-end restaurants and I’ve had to convince them to try it. But I tell you what, they ask for another piece.”
At Pizza Vs in Amherstburg, adventurous topping combinations are the norm for owner Victor Farago.
His ovens turn out spinach pizza, bacon chicken ranch pizza, taco pizza and the Big Kahunna featuring hot peppers, ham, pineapple and mandarin oranges.
“There have always been people who say you shouldn’t have anything sweet on a pizza, ” Farago said. “If you don’t like pineapple then you’re not going to like the mandarins but it gives the pizza a little extra lift.”
People have very strong opinions about pineapple on pizza. I have friends who are chefs at high-end restaurants and I’ve had to convince them to try it.