I came, I saw, I refused abomination.
An Italian chef in Brisbane, Australia, denied a request to add pineapple to pizza, calling it an “insult to his culture,” and was subsequently fired.
The chef, Davide Tamburella, was let go from the now-shuttered La Costa restaurant after management recorded a series of complaints about his conduct, including his pineapple non-compliance.
Tamburella took umbrage at the decision and brought it to Australia’s Fair Work Commission, claiming he had been unfairly dismissed.
The Commission released its ruling on Tuesday, noting that Tamburella’s refusal to add the tropical topping hinged on the fact that, “he considers, as an Italian, that putting pineapple on a pizza is an insult to his culture.”
Evoking biblical imagery, the Commission noted that this was Tamburella’s third refusal to allow the fruit anywhere near a pizza.
Tamburella had previously implored his overlords to “check how important it is for Italians not to put pineapple on a pizza”.
According to the restaurant, the fruit repudiation was one among many issues with Tamburella’s job performance, noting that his communication style and use of foul language caused “escalation of frustration in the workplace.”
The report included the account of an incident from earlier this year when Tamburella fractured bones in his right hand after striking a metal handrail at work.
The restaurant’s managing director, Elliot Ingram, told the Daily Mail there was “more to this story than a pizza topping”.
According to Tamburella, he hoped that La Costa would sponsor an Australian visa that allows skilled workers to become permanent residents.
But as the tribunal heard, after this firing, the restaurant ceased that process.
Per the ruling, Tamburella lost his unfair dismissal claim on the grounds that the application had been filed too late.
In his LinkedIn profile, Tamburella describes himself as committed to “delivering exceptional food” and “improving business performance.”
According to the BBC, he posted a “letter for chefs” with the theme “respecting the ingredients” earlier this year.
Tamburella has reportedly found employment at another Brisbane restaurant, where pineapple is blessedly not on its menu.
The question of whether pineapple belongs on pizza has long been the source of incendiary debate.
Despite the tropical branding, the pairing of ham and pineapple originated in the great white north.
In 1962, Greek immigrant Sam Panopoulos invented the combination in Canada, drawing influence from sweet-and-sour Chinese-American cooking.
The dish tapped into the era’s fascination with Tiki culture — a trend fueled by Hawaii becoming the 50th US state in 1959 and the resulting surge in canned pineapple imports.
Last year, a pizzeria in Norwich, Norfolk went viral for charging $125 for a Hawaiian pizza to deter customers from choosing the controversial pineapple topping.
The cheeky menu description reads: “Yeah, for $125 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on you Monster!”
When asked why they decided to charge such a large fee, the owner’s answer is simple — they hate pineapple on pizza.
Meanwhile, in 2017, Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson expressed his supreme wish to ban the topping entirely.
