How often in my life have I had to justify myself when I’m in a restaurant or supermarket Pizza Hawaii instead of the classic varieties such as salami or funghi. So there are most likely only two types of people in this world: those who find the combination of sweet pineapple with ham and tomato sauce simply delicious and those who will never understand why this pizza was actually invented. Here you can find out where the cult pizza comes from and why neither Hawaii nor Italy have anything to do with it.
Where the Hawaiian pizza really comes from
Pizza Hawaii: The dish originally comes from this country
But where does the dish come from, which causes so much discussion among many families and friends every week? Even if we usually mention pizza in the same breath as the country Italy, everyone now knows that a traditional Italian restaurant would rather close than serve pineapple on a pizza. So this European country falls away. However, the pizza does not have the name because it comes from Hawaii and there is no other US state behind the combination of ham and pineapple.
This is how the Pifrom behind Hawaii von Sam Panopoulos, a Canadian chef and restaurant manager who was born and raised in Greece. In the 1950s, Sam decided to take a ship to Canada, not having the slightest idea that in a few years he would be inventing the iconic ham and pineapple pizza.
First stop Naples, Italy
The voyage from Greece to Canada involved many stops, and so the ship stopped in Naples, Italy. There Panopoulos tried a classic pizza for the first time and was absolutely delighted from the delicious taste. Since that day, Sam has been a fan of Italian cuisine and, having arrived in Canada, he tried different dishes. At the time, however, he did not yet know how to traditionally prepare or topping an Italian pizza.
Pizza in Canada was “primitive” back then
In the 1950s, pizza wasn’t as well known as it is today, and especially in Canada, Italian traditions weren’t cared regarding. “The pizza that existed in Canada back then was primitive”said Panopoulos in an interview with to the Online portal Dark Atlas. It wasn’t the pizza crust that was decisive back then, but the topping. In Sam’s restaurant you might therefore initially only choose from bacon, mushrooms and hot peppers. Because that was not enough choice for the native Greek, he invented a pizza with ham and pineapple in 1962, which we know today under the name Pizza Hawaii.
Hence the name Pizza Hawaii
But why did Sam Panopoulos call the dish Pizza Hawaii? This question is relatively simple, but has absolutely nothing to do with Hawaiian culture. At the time the Hawaiian pizza was invented, there was a real tiki hype in North America and more and more of the Polynesian culture was brought to the United States, but also to Canada.
As exotic as the Hawaiian pizza may sound, in the end, the popular dish has nothing in common with Hawaiian cuisine. Incidentally, the same applies to the Hawaiian toast, which was invented by the German TV chef Clemens Wilmenrod seven years before the Hawaiian pizza.
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