Pineapple on your pizza? It’s the hot topping topic

The team at Lupa Pizza were united in their revulsion for the topping, but felt they had to leave it on the delivery menu.

So instead they slapped on a £100 charge on what they called the ‘tropical menace’ to put customers off – and make more than a few headlines worldwide.

‘I absolutely loathe pineapple on a pizza,’ said restaurant co-owner Francis Woolf.

But it appears that tastes in Guernsey are different – one establishment says that pineapple and Hawaiians are a best-seller.

Island Pizza has three outlets across the island.

It said that last year it sold more than 6,000 Hawaiians – 500 a month or more than 15 orders every day. They also notched up more than 1,200 requests for extra pineapple over the course of the year.

‘Pineapple does belong on a pizza – it gives it a tangy, sweet taste,’ said Mo Cheikh Sleiman, food and beverage manager at the Sahara Group.

‘We update our menus every year we find that the Hawaiian works very well for us.’

But at the end of the day it’s a personal preference. And if you want it your way, Island Pizza will deliver that, he added.

‘We’re here to serve customers. It’s your pizza and it’s up to you.’

Not everyone agrees, however. You will not find a Hawaiian on the menu at Rebellion Pizza, but it does offer pineapple as part of a pulled pork pizza.

On the streets of St Peter Port, Charlotte Halliday, 21, said she was not a fan.

‘It’s a weird combination on pizza,’ she said. ‘I don’t understand it personally.’

Grace Thoumine said that she had never tried the combo – but would be prepared to give it a go. ‘I think people are less inclined to like it,’ she said.

The history of the pineapple topping dates back more than 60 years, with the inspiration, or the blame, credited to Sam Panopoulos, a Greek immigrant who moved to Canada, and is said to be the first to have dropped pineapple on to a pizza base.