{"id":7351,"date":"2024-01-23T08:09:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T13:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/?p=7351"},"modified":"2024-01-23T08:11:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T13:11:24","slug":"italy-divided-over-new-pineapple-pizza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/23\/italy-divided-over-new-pineapple-pizza\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy divided over new pineapple pizza"},"content":{"rendered":"

CNN \u2014<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Anyone who\u2019s set foot in Italy knows there are unwritten rules that one must abide by \u2013 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\u00a0pizza<\/a>? Heresy \u2013 at least, it was until now.<\/p>

But 2024 might just be the year that pineapple pizza cracks Italy, thanks to\u00a0Gino Sorbillo<\/a>, the renowned Naples\u00a0pizzaiolo<\/em>\u00a0(pizza maestro) who has added the dreaded \u201cananas\u201d to his menu in Via dei Tribunali, the best known pizza street in the world capital of pizza.<\/p>

\"\"
Gino Sorbillo has created uproar in Italy with his pineapple pizza. \/ Gino Sorbillo<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Sorbillo\u2019s creation, called \u201cMargherita con Ananas\u201d costs 7 euros ($7.70). But this isn\u2019t your regular Hawaiian: it is a pizza bianca<\/em>, denuded of its tomato layer, sprinkled with no fewer than three types of cheese, with the pineapple cooked twice for a caramelized feel.<\/p>

Sorbillo, a third-generation pizzaiolo, told CNN that he created it to \u201ccombat food prejudice.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cSadly people follow the crowd and condition themselves according to other people\u2019s views, or what they hear,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>

\u201cI\u2019ve noticed in the last few years that lots of people were condemning ingredients or ways of preparing food purely because in the past most people didn\u2019t know them, so I wanted to put these disputed ingredients \u2013 that are treated like they\u2019re poison \u2013 onto a Neapolitan pizza, making them tasty.\u201d<\/p>

Doing it in his headquarters in the historic center of Naples with its 3,000 years of history \u2013 Sorbillo has 21 outlets around the world including in Miami, Tokyo and Ibiza \u2013 was also making an important point, he said.<\/p>

The pineapple is prebaked in the oven and then cooled. Then he adds smoked provola (a local cow milk cheese from Campania), extra virgin olive oil, and fresh basil, before popping the pizza in his woodfired oven.<\/p>

As it comes out of the oven, he scatters \u201cmicro shavings\u201d of two types of smoked cacioricotta cheese around the crust: one from Sardinian goats, and another from buffalos in the nearby Cilento area.<\/p>

\u201cIt makes it really tasty,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\"\"
The historic center of Naples has over 3,000 years of history — much of it pizza-dominated. \/ Gino Sorbillo<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

The uproar commences<\/h2>

Tasty or not, pineapple on pizza is anathema to most Italians, and his pizza \u2013 which he launched on social media this week \u2013 hasn\u2019t gone down well with many. It has, Sorbillo said, started \u201cuproar\u201d with insults on social media, and his pizza even being discussed on national TV.<\/p>

But he says that those who\u2019ve been curious enough to try it have been favorable.<\/p>

\u201cBefore I launched it on social media, I put it on the menu without saying anything for a couple of weeks, and lots of people ordered it, even Neapolitans,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cBut Italy is split in half about it. And not just Italy. There\u2019s a load of arguments that have opened up about it. I think people in general are not curious. They are mistrustful of anything different.\u201d<\/p>

Barbara Politi<\/a>, a food journalist who rushed straight to Naples to try it, was positive.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s good, fresh, I\u2019m in favor of it,\u201d she said. \u201cDid you know that pineapple has been part of Europe\u2019s food culture since Christopher Columbus tasted it in Guadeloupe in 1493 and brought it back?<\/p>

\u201cWhen Sorbillo launched it, I was curious and looked into how long pineapple had been used in Europe, and I found that it has been part of European [food] culture for a long time. So in reality we\u2019re talking about a question of mentality and of taste habits.<\/p>

\u201cI liked it, it\u2019s a bit like sushi \u2013 at the start you might not love it but then it becomes a fixation.\u201d<\/a><\/p>

For Sorbillo, pineapple on pizza is no different to the more adventurous toppings pizzaioli have been working with in recent years.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>

\u201cIn 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\u2019t used 10 years ago, chopped pistachios, powdered olives, mozzarella foam, even jams. Why shouldn\u2019t we rediscover pineapple? Pizza has been taking on a new life for the past five or six years.\u201d<\/p>

He said he thought his pizzaiolo ancestors \u201cwould be perplexed\u201d by his pineapple offering, but added, \u201cThings should be tasted first, and then you express your view. In the past, not even ham or arugula went on pizzas, now they\u2019re normal.\u201d<\/p>

\"\"
Sorbillo has since created a ketchup pizza to goad his critics even more. \/ Gino Sorbillo<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

However, one thing he draws the line at is starting with a tomato base.<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s another fruit \u2013 with two fruits, which both have acidity it wouldn\u2019t be a good product,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead, I put three smoked cheeses on, and it changes the pizza, becomes a different taste.\u201d<\/p>

He said that the Hawaiian\u2019s history, using tomato, meant that \u201cpeople condemn it without trying to work on it, as I did.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cObviously there are polemics from people who say you shouldn\u2019t use it. But why are you offended? Nobody is forcing you to buy it.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>

\u201cPairings are important in food. If you pair ingredients well, the result is good. People who are gastronomically curious are eating it, which means we did well.\u201d<\/p>

In fact, Sorbillo has already used the criticism to create another controversial pizza.<\/p>

\u201cWhen the pineapple pizza came out, someone wrote, \u2018Now see if you can do a ketchup one, so I did it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd another row started.\u201d<\/p>

It was no ordinary ketchup, though; instead, he used homemade sauce from red and yellow Italian datterino tomatoes, on a white base with smoked provola. He then filmed himself eating it triumphantly, surrounded by bottles of homemade ketchup, pronouncing it \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAll you need to change is one ingredient, or one preparatory step, and you create a whole new thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m sure that soon pineapple pizza will appear on the menus of other pizzerias in Naples \u2013 and not only in Naples.\u201d<\/p>

Read more here<\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who\u2019s set foot in Italy knows there are unwritten rules that one must abide by \u2013 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 \u2013 at least, it was until now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1772,1774,1252,196,1771,1369,1775,1773],"class_list":{"0":"post-7351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-gino-sorbillo","9":"tag-heresy","10":"tag-italian-food","11":"tag-italy","12":"tag-naples-pizzaiolo","13":"tag-pineapple-pizza","14":"tag-traditional-pizza","15":"tag-uproar"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/piinapple-pizza-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7359,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7351\/revisions\/7359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panoramitalia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}