Burn the witch!
Italy divided over new pineapple pizza
Anyone who’s set foot in Italy knows there are unwritten rules that one must abide by – and the most important of all revolve around food. Cappuccino after 11 a.m.? Only for tourists. Spaghetti bolognese? A horrifying thought. Pineapple on your pizza? Heresy – at least, it was until now.
But 2024 might just be the year that pineapple pizza cracks Italy, thanks to Gino Sorbillo, the renowned Naples pizzaiolo (pizza maestro) who has added the dreaded “ananas” to his menu in Via dei Tribunali, the best known pizza street in the world capital of pizza.
Sorbillo’s creation, called “Margherita con Ananas” costs 7 euros ($7.70). But this isn’t your regular Hawaiian: it is a pizza bianca, denuded of its tomato layer, sprinkled with no fewer than three types of cheese, with the pineapple cooked twice for a caramelized feel.
Sorbillo, a third-generation pizzaiolo, told CNN that he created it to “combat food prejudice.”
“Sadly people follow the crowd and condition themselves according to other people’s views, or what they hear,” he said.
So, not only is he committing heresy, he’s doing it for some sort of weird food Social Justice. Stop. Just. Stop.
Tasty or not, pineapple on pizza is anathema to most Italians, and his pizza – which he launched on social media this week – hasn’t gone down well with many. It has, Sorbillo said, started “uproar” with insults on social media, and his pizza even being discussed on national TV.
Not tasty. No pineapple. Just like no anchovies. Or broccoli. Or carrots.
“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.”
No, they just know that some things do not belong on pizza.
“In the last few years people have been using ingredients that five, six years ago were never used. Now we use speck from Alto Adige, mortadella which wasn’t used 10 years ago, chopped pistachios, powdered olives, mozzarella foam, even jams. Why shouldn’t we rediscover pineapple? Pizza has been taking on a new life for the past five or six years.”
There’s a reason things are classics, and others aren’t. There’s a reason people go for pepperoni first. I prefer a nice meatball. Not sprinkled ground beef, but, actual meatballs sliced and put on top. With enough sauce, and you have to use whole milk cheese. Not that part-skim stuff.
However, one thing he draws the line at is starting with a tomato base.
“That’s another fruit – with two fruits, which both have acidity it wouldn’t be a good product,” he said. “Instead, I put three smoked cheeses on, and it changes the pizza, becomes a different taste.”
No sauce no dice. Yup, I’m a pizza snob. But, then, I did grow up on the Jersey shore, where you can get a great pizza everywhere.
No, they don’t make real pizza in Chicago, St Louis or Detroit. Mr Teach and I agree. Go to New York or New Jersey. Start with cheese pizza, which is better than any pizza you get elsewhere, regardless of toppings. The dough, the sauce, the cheese, all better out east. And don’t forget tomato pie!!
I was visiting the parents in NJ, had caught food poisoning the Friday before Christmas, and, stopped at an Irish pub on Sunday, ordered a bar pie. OMG. Could only eat half of what was around an 8 inch pie, but, that sauce and cheese. Drool factor 10.
I’m actually shocked that all the NJ/NY transplants to Raleigh do not make a proper NJ/NY pie
As a guy who actually owned 8 steak, hoagie and pizza shops and made tens of thousands of pizzas in my day, I can say with authority whatever Signore Sorbillo created it ain’t pizza. Not by any measure.
Now had he named his creation piatto da cena (dinner plate) he would have created something new. As it is he created something quite forgettable in an already crowded field.
A former student from St Louis University opened Brooklyn Bridge Pizzeria here in St Louis and introduced thousands to real pizza. We visit Jersey often and our son-in-law always rewards us with genuine pizza!! I describe St Louis style pizza as Velveeta and catsup on a saltine.
And in our opinion, the best Place(s) for Philadelphia cheesesteaks are in NU (hee haw)!!