Hawaiian pizza is a pizza originating in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and is traditionally topped with

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

, cheese, and either

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...

or bacon.

History

Sam Panopoulos Sotirios "Sam" Panopoulos ( el, Σωτήριος Πανόπουλος; 20 August 1934 8 June 2017) was a Greek-born Canadian cook and businessman, credited as the inventor of Hawaiian pizza. Early life Sotirios Panopoulos was born in Vourvoura ...

, a Greek-born Canadian, created the first Hawaiian pizza at the Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ontario, Canada in 1962. Inspired in part by his experience preparing Chinese dishes which commonly mix sweet and savory flavours, Panopoulos experimented with adding pineapple, ham, bacon, and other toppings. These additions were not initially very popular. The addition of pineapple to the traditional mix of tomato sauce and cheese, along with either ham or bacon, later became popular locally and eventually became a staple offering of pizzerias on a global scale. The name of this creation is, in fact, actually not directly inspired by the U.S. state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

at all; Panopoulos chose the name ''Hawaiian'' after the brand of canned pineapple they were using at the time. In Germany, Hawaiian pizza is thought to be a variation of the ham, pineapple and cheese-topped Toast Hawaii, originally introduced by Germany's first TV cook

Clemens Wilmenrod Clemens Wilmenrod (July 24, 1906 – April 12, 1967) was the first German television cook. His pseudonym was derived from the municipality Willmenrod in the Westerwald region, where he was born as Carl Clemens Hahn. Wilmenrod is considered th ...

in 1955. A blend of cheeses, usually consisting of mozzarella cheese is a popular topping on Hawaiian pizza. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, some restaurants use barbecue sauce and

pulled pork Pulled pork is an American barbecue dish, more specifically a dish of the Southern U.S., based on shredded barbecued pork shoulder. It is typically slow-smoked over wood (usually outdoors); indoor variations use a slow cooker. The meat is th ...

with pineapple and cheese as an alternative to the more traditional combination featuring tomato sauce and either ham or bacon.

In popular media

In 2014, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' listed Hawaiian pizza first on its list of "The 13 Most Influential Pizzas of All Time". Opinions towards Hawaiian pizza are generally divisive and polarizing. Although many enjoy the taste, others vehemently dislike it, possibly due to the sweetness of pineapple paired with "salty pizza ingredients." In 2017, Icelandic president

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson (; born 26 June 1968) is an Icelandic historian and politician serving as the sixth and current president of Iceland. He took office in 2016 after winning the most votes in the 2016 election, 71,356 (39.1%). He wa ...

reportedly told a group of high school students during a Q&A that he was fundamentally opposed to putting pineapple on pizza. He jokingly added that he would ban pineapple as a pizza topping if he could, as long as he received 30% of the under 21 vote. His off-the-cuff remark generated a flurry of media coverage and inspired many, regardless of their taste for Hawaiian pizza, to express their opinions on social media. Celebrities shared their liking or distaste for Hawaiian pizza, including Canada's prime minister,

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

, who expressed support for it by tweeting: “I have a pineapple. I have a pizza. And I stand behind this delicious Southwestern Ontario creation." Panopoulos, at that point retired from the restaurant business, was called upon by some media outlets to defend his creation. Guðni later clarified that he was only joking, and that he did not have the power to ban particular toppings on pizza; he added that even he would not like to live in a country where the leader could ban anything that they did not like. American author

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, YouTube content creator, podcaster, and philanthropist. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including '' The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is ...

reflected on the dish's cosmopolitan origins and reach, noting its Canadian invention by a Greek immigrant, inspired by Chinese cuisine to put a South American fruit on an Italian dish, which has gained its greatest popularity in Australia.

Surveys

Hawaiian was the most popular pizza in Australia in 1999, accounting for 15% of pizza sales. A 2015 review of independent UK

takeaway A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

s operating through

Just Eat Just Eat (formerly known legally as Just Eat plc) is an online food order and delivery brand of Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway.com, and a former food delivery company. Just Eat was founded as a separate company in 2001 in Kolding, Denmark ...

found the Hawaiian pizza to be the most commonly available. A 2016

Harris Poll The Harris Poll (legal name: Harris Insights and Analytics) is an American market research and analytics company that has been tracking the sentiment, behaviors and motivations of American adults since 1963. In addition to the traditional consulti ...

survey of US adults had pineapple in the top three least-favorite pizza toppings, ahead of

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

and mushrooms. According to a 2019 YouGov, YouGov Omnibus survey, 12% of Americans who eat pizza say that pineapple is one of their top three favorite pizza toppings, and 24% say that pineapple is one of their least favorite toppings. It was not the most disliked topping, however, as other ingredients were even more widely unpopular in the survey:

and eggplant.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawaiian Pizza Pizza varieties Australian cuisine Canadian cuisine Hawaiian fusion cuisine Food and drink introduced in 1962 Ham dishes Pineapple dishes Food combinations 1962 establishments in Canada

History

In popular media

Surveys

See also

References

External links