Should pineapple go on pizza?

It may seem a trivial question, after all one should be allowed to eat as one likes.

To Italians however the idea is a culinary sacrilege against one of the stars of their beloved traditional cuisine that, as I wrote in the article about pesto, they are ready to protect with teeth and claws.

Pizza was invented in Naples after the tomatoes were introduced in Europe from America in the mid fifteen century.

At first, like its Asian relative the aubergine, the tomato was regarded by doctors as being harmful to health due to its cold nature, so it was only cultivated as an ornamental garden plant.

That was until doctors realised that when passing an unripe tomato on an inflamed skin it healed it, likely due to its vitamin C content.

Little by little the suspicion against it as an unhealthy food died out and people began to eat it, especially the poor due to its availability, quick growth and low cost. Thus, though it’s a fruit, it soon was found out that with added salt and herbs it made a tasty, versatile sauce for savoring many dishes, especially pasta.

The first pizza was just bread with tomato sauce spread on it made by poor housewives to give their family a quick snack. 

To make it more satisfying local ingredients such as garlic, anchovies, olives and oreganum were then added. Eventually mozzarella and basil were added when in 1889 a Neapolitan baker called Raffaele Esposito, in honor of the Italian queen Margherita of Savoy and the unification of Italy invented the famous pizza Margherita, a female name that in Italian also means daisy.

In modern times other types of pizza were invented in popular pizzerias with ingredients such as artichokes hearts, cheeses, seafood, Parma ham and capers. Though this said they were always Italian ingredients.

So, to the question if pineapple on pizza is acceptable the answer is no, because pineapple is not Italian. If it’s acceptable then why not mango, papaya, leeches, passion fruits, kiwi and so on?

But that is not the main point. The worst aspect of interfering with classic traditional cuisines is that due to excessive commercialization and the huge popularity of pizza worldwide there are not only pizza of abysmal quality, but with odd ingredients added to it such as: tomato ketchup, mustard, chips, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, baked beans, peas, chocolate, spaghetti and so on.

Now, the other point is: what makes a good pizza?

Since pizza is so popular and affordable people are fond of praising or vilifying to various degrees pizzas eaten in pizzerias, bought in supermarkets or delivered at home. So much so that in the world there are as many pizza eating experts as there are in people discussing endless political matters, football and so on.  

Without going into too many details, the answer is that besides the high quality of the ingredients used that it’s essential in Italian cooking, the other is the consistency of the dough that when cooked and eaten it should be as easy to chew and tasty to eat as freshly baked good bread.  That means not chewy like the rubber of a car wheel, not dry and hard like cardboard; also not too thin like a sheet of paper, or thick like a mattress.

So, dear dear reader this is the post today. 

Therefore, if you like to add pineapple on pizza, do it by all means, but maybe call it: Caribbean, Vietnamese, Hawaiian or American Pizza Styled flat bread with pineapple.

Wishing you a great day and plenty of excellent health.

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From the Book: “Women’s Rights and Other Issues’ by Pierrot Armanno.