Pineapple pizza debuts in world pizza capital, Italians furious

While Gino Sorbillo may revere at the taste, the pineapple pizza has left food lovers in Italy divided. (Image credit: GinoSorbillo/Instagram).

Pizza's origin may have been in Italy, but if there is one variety of the food item that has raised a debate in the country recently it is the pineapple pizza.

The start of 2024 has generated a buzz around the potential breakthrough of the pineapple pizza called "Margherita con Ananas" in the country, thanks largely to local pizza chef Gino Sorbillo who has introduced the "annas" topping to his menu at dei Tribunali, the well-known pizza street in Italy, a CNN report said.

"Sadly people follow the crowd and condition themselves according to other people’s views, or what they hear".

"I've noticed in the last few years that lots of people were condemning ingredients or ways of preparing food purely because in the past most people didn’t know them, so I wanted to put these disputed ingredients – that are treated like they’re poison – onto a Neapolitan pizza, making them tasty," Sorbillo said.

Sorbillo's approach towards making the pizza involves prebaking the pineapple in the oven and allowing it to cool. The next step is to add smoked provola, a local cow milk cheese from Campania, olive oil and fresh basil. Finally, the pizza is placed in an woodfired oven.

"It makes it really tasty," Sorbillo said of the pizza, that has been priced at $7.70 (Rs 83).

While Sorbillo may revere at the taste, the pineapple pizza has left food lovers in Italy divided. Some have praised its uniqueness while others have not yet fully warmed up to the pizza variety.

"Before I launched it on social media, I put it on the menu without saying anything for a couple of weeks, and lots of people ordered it, even Neapolitans."

"But Italy is split in half about it. And not just Italy. There’s a load of arguments that have opened up about it. I think people in general are not curious. They are mistrustful of anything different," he said.

Local food journalist Barbara Politi offered a positive review and said that the pineapple pizza tasted "a bit like Sushi".