“An Insult to My Culture”: Italian Chef Fired for Refusing to Put Pineapple on Pizza

Italian chef Davide Tamburella, who worked at La Costa restaurant in Brisbane, Australia, lost his job after refusing to put pineapple on pizza, calling the topping “an insult to my culture.”

The restaurant, which has since closed, had documented several complaints about the chef’s conduct. Among them was his refusal to use the controversial tropical ingredient. Tamburella challenged his dismissal, taking his case to Australia’s Fair Work Commission and claiming he had been unfairly fired.

In a ruling published on Tuesday, the commission noted that this was the third time the chef had refused to add pineapple to a pizza. He said that, as an Italian, he considered the combination offensive to his culture. Tamburella had even previously asked management to “look into how important it is to Italians not to put pineapple on pizza.”

However, the restaurant argued that the issue went beyond the topping. Its complaints also concerned the chef’s manner of communicating and his alleged habit of using foul language, which his employer said provoked disputes and heightened tensions among staff. The case documents also referred to an incident earlier this year in which Tamburella broke bones in his right hand after punching a metal railing at work.

The restaurant’s managing director, Elliot Ingram, told the Daily Mail that “there is a lot more to this story than just pizza toppings.”

The chef had hoped La Costa would sponsor his Australian skilled worker visa, which could eventually have allowed him to obtain permanent residency. However, after his dismissal, the restaurant stopped processing the paperwork. The commission dismissed Tamburella’s unfair dismissal claim because it had been lodged outside the permitted time limit.

According to media reports, Tamburella has since found a job at another Brisbane restaurant — one that, fortunately for him, does not serve pineapple pizza.

The debate over whether pineapple belongs on pizza has raged for decades. Despite its name, Hawaiian pizza was not invented on the islands but in Canada. In 1962, Greek immigrant Sam Panopoulos was the first to combine ham and pineapple on a pizza, inspired by the sweet-and-sour dishes of Chinese-American cuisine.

The dish quickly became part of the growing trend for tropical aesthetics associated with tiki culture, which gained popularity after Hawaii became a US state in 1959 and imports of canned pineapple subsequently increased.

In 2017, Icelandic President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson admitted that he would like to ban pineapple as a pizza topping altogether.