Italian chef fired after refusing to put pineapple on pizza

Posted by zeristor 1 day ago

Comments

Comment by Steve16384 1 day ago

"after a meeting with management who had a string of complaints about the chef's behaviour [...] Other concerns were raised about Tamburella using foul language, his communication style and "escalation of frustration in the workplace".

Another case, like the "Arrested for a Facebook post" articles, where there's actually a string of other reasons, but the last straw is the only one that is highlighted.

Comment by cuvert 1 day ago

I wonder where does this bitterness against pineapple on pizza comes from. Maybe it's just media fabricated, but pineapple has and enzyme called bromelain which will destroy the gluten. Sometimes I wonder if maybe a pizzaiolo left an uncook pizza on the bench and found it with holes in it, but I don't know how fast those enzymes work on the protein as I never tried it.

Comment by jfengel 22 hours ago

Nowhere near fast enough. It's actually a perfectly ordinary flavor combination. There's no fundamental problem that needs to be explained.

It's just a meme. "Hawaiian" pizza was invented in the 1960s. It had the right combination of popularity and unfamiliarity to become a meme. Once it becomes a meme, it feeds on itself: people talk about it just because other people are talking about it, rather than because they actually care all that much.

Comment by hyrix 1 day ago

Typically there is tomato sauce on the dough and the pineapple goes on top of that.

I would put this down to savory/sweet dichotomy zealotry

Comment by UncleMeat 1 day ago

But even this doesn't make sense. Nobody has a problem with pears being on top of a neapolitan pizza.

Comment by mingus88 1 day ago

Funny that you mention tomatoes because they are not native to Italy and probably just fine for our culturally sensitive chef

The fact is, food gets better when it travels. Pizza is global and people will do whatever the hell they want with it.

Comment by pseudohadamard 4 hours ago

Having been to Italy and seen abominations like pizza with a topping of French fries (I have the photos to prove it), I think complaining about pineapple is a little rich.

Comment by BenoitP 1 day ago

Funny how this doesn't get flagged, but any post about the midterms did

Comment by cosmicgadget 1 day ago

It's been flagged. HN has always been in bed with big pineapple, everyone knows that.

Comment by pickleglitch 1 day ago

It's been flagged. HN has always been in bed with the anti-pineapple lobby, everyone knows that.

Comment by mingus88 1 day ago

Oh you see we have to keep the feed relevant for YC and that means nothing that makes them look bad or feel bad :( :(

Comment by yahway 1 day ago

Go to Italy and ask for parmesan on your seafood plate and you will understand.

Comment by Markoff 1 day ago

Care to explain for us who are not eating (regularly) seafood nor parmesan, let alone their combo? Personally I'd find odd to combine seafood with ANY cheese, not sure why parmesan would be any different.

Comment by cuvert 1 day ago

It's one of those myths perpetuated on tv or the internet that Italians will get offended or something like that. There's so much competition in this business that nobody will refuse you, specially when they can add a few euros for a few grams of cheese. And there's also a big chance that the cook/pizzaiolo is not Italian, so these customs are all foreign to him.

Comment by gus_massa 21 hours ago

One of my friends went to Italy, and they refused to add cheese to his pasta with seafood. Something something a toxic combination.

They gave him the cheese anyway, so it was at his own risk to make the combination.

Disclaimer: I put cheese on every pasta, including the one that has seafood.

Comment by euroderf 1 day ago

Do we have an update on the request for tuna ?

Comment by jaggs 1 day ago

"Davide Tamburella was fired from the now-closed La Costa restaurant in May..."

Hmm...

Comment by Muralnick 6 hours ago

He is a hero; putting pineapple on pizza is the most horrible thing you can do.

Comment by jmclnx 1 day ago

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

I fully agree with this! I hope he finds work soon.

Comment by Steve16384 1 day ago

What next, sacking a english worker because they refuse to put the milk in tea first?

Comment by jmclnx 1 day ago

Why not :)

Funny!

Comment by BurnGpuBurn 1 day ago

this feels as entirely AI written

Comment by Steve16384 1 day ago

In what way?

Comment by bell-cot 1 day ago

Maybe. But if you were a BBC editor, would you both (1) assign a good writer to this story, and (2) tell him to take the time to write it really well?

Comment by joquarky 20 hours ago

Why waste everyone's time with this comment and not provide any evidence?

Comment by mcphage 1 day ago

If you don’t stand for Sonething, you’ll fall for Anything.

Comment by DougN7 1 day ago

I wonder how that pithy saying got its start as it doesn’t make any sense if you actually think about it.

Comment by mcphage 1 day ago

But it seems perfectly appropriate for this story ;-) (And hey, I love pineapple on pizza)