When you open the pizza menu for ordering your favourite slices or check what’s knew, you do make a brief stop beside Pineapple Pizza, either to appreciate it or oppose it, but never to ignore it. But do you know how this Italian delicacy started having this tropical fruit as its topping? The origin of Pineapple on Pizza goes back quite a while and has an interesting cultural and culinary history.
Even before the question shifts to pineapple pizza, it is important to go down the memory lane to uncover the origins of pizza, its toppings, the advent of non-traditional toppings and modern experimentation and its acceptance in the cultural world. While everyone is aware of the fact that pizza originated in Italy, digging deeper, it was baked by a Naples-based baker Raffaele Esposito. A traditional pizza only had the bread, tomato sauce base, basil leaves and lots of mozzarella cheese. This was called Margherita Pizza and still finds its place in modern day menu. What started as a tribute to Queen Margherita of Savoy, became a world favourite classic dish for all occasions.
Once the concept of topping bread and baking it gained popularity, people started experimenting with toppings and added mushrooms, meats, shrimps, fish and more. Also, remember by the 20th century, Pizza was no longer produced only in the Italian boundary. Pizza-chefs travelled far and wide and with them took the secret of making this delicious bread dish. And as is the norm, when you settle in a local place, you adapt to the fresh produce of that place or go as per the culinary trends of that community.
Keeping this in mind, Sam Panopoulos, a Greek- Canadian opened a restaurant in Ontario called Satellite Restaurant. Here, inspired by the savouriness of meat and sweetness of the pineapples, he started experimenting with the pizza topping. And finally by the 1960s he started serving Pineapple Pizza, which made his restaurant stand out from others that serve Pizza. Since then, this sweet and meaty pizza sailed across the globe and is often found being made by leading pizza companies. Whether someone likes it or not, stands a subjective choice but, yes, Pineapple Pizza was one of the earliest culinary experimentation that is remembered and cherished by many, till date.
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