Italian chef fired after refusing to put pineapple on pizza | Hacker News Reader

Italian chef fired after refusing to put pineapple on pizza

bbc.co.uk

23 pointszeristor31 comments

"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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

> 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.

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

Why not :)

Funny!

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Hmm...

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

Do we have an update on the request for tuna ?

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

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

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

I upvoted you because you love pineapple on pizza. It’s great!

I downvoted you because you love pineapple on pizza.

Your tears are like the sweetest wine to me

this feels as entirely AI written

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?

In what way?

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

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