By Ruth Hallows
It is arguably the most divisive culinary combination.
Topping the traditional Italian favourite with pineapple now comes with a hefty price tag at one trendy pizzeria.
Lupa Pizza in Norwich, in the county of Norfolk, England, is charging customers £100 ($199) for its Hawaiian pizza on food delivery service Deliveroo because it disapproves of the combination so strongly.
So far, no one has ordered the pricey topping but pineapple remains a popular choice with Britons.
The pizzeria, where the average base costs £11.70, has nailed its culinary colours to the mast. Its menu tells customers: “Yeah, for £100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on you Monster!”
“There’s definitely a lot of controversy,” Quin Jianoran, the head chef, told the London Telegraph.
“People have been talking about it for so many years. I’ve worked in pizza for eight years now and it’s always been the one thing. It’s very split. People either love or hate it, so I thought it would be a good way to engage with the public.”
Francis Woolf, co-owner of Lupa Pizza, told the Norwich Evening News: “I absolutely loathe pineapple on a pizza.”
It is a sentiment shared by Jianoran, who said: “I love a pina colada, but pineapple on pizza? Never. I’d rather put a bloody strawberry on one than that tropical menace.”
Their views, however, are not shared by the majority of the British public. In the most recent YouGov survey on the subject, 53 per cent of Britons said they enjoyed the taste of pineapple on pizza, while 41 per cent of people did not.
Lupa agreed to feature the Hawaiian special on its main menu if the people of Norwich voted in favour of the combination in an online poll which closes on January 24.
Jianoran, who said you couldn’t go wrong with a margherita, said: “It started off with us opening up on Deliveroo. It was originally for a laugh. No one has bought it yet, obviously, because of its extortionate price, but we get people leaving comments saying, ‘Oh I really wanted this though.’
“If people say yes on the poll, we are going to do it because we want to stay true to our word.
“If pineapple wins the vote, I’ll make it. But I won’t be happy about it. And I might charge £200 next time.”
As of Saturday, the poll stood at 51 per cent in favour of the Hawaiian.
Earlier this year, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was exposed by his daughter as a Hawaiian pizza hypocrite.
In a TikTok reel, the celebrity chef is seen making the public declaration: “I absolutely curl my toes when some muppet puts pineapple on a freaking pizza. Pineapple does not belong on pizza.”
The reel then cuts to show a hooded Ramsay secretly polishing off a Hawaiian.
Telegraph, London
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