Pizza shop declares war on Hawaiian toppings by charging a hefty price: What to know about the Canadian-made classic

Pizza toppings aren't typically a thing that spurs a lot of controversy. From pepperoni and bacon, to mushrooms and onions, most pizza lovers can agree you often can't go wrong with what you put on top of a pie. But one pizzeria is now demanding people who enjoy a rather divisive set of toppings pay a hefty price.

Lupa Pizza in Norfolk, U.K., is "not so keen" on Hawaiian pizza, which features pineapple, according to an Instagram post made last week. In turn, the Norfolk-based restaurant decided to start selling pies with these toppings for a whopping £100 ($175 CAD).

"Yeah, for £100 you can have it. Order the champagne, too! Go on, you monster!" reads the restaurant's description for Hawaiian pizza on Deliveroo, a British online food delivery company. Other classic pizzas on the menu are featured for more normal prices like £12 ($21 CAD) for pepperoni or £17 ($30 CAD) for a special featuring guanciale and chestnut mushroom.

"We're not fans of pineapple over here and we don't think that anyone else should be either," Francis Woolf, owner and chief fruit consultant at the restaurant, told People.

"However, if people do desperately need pineapple on their pizza — then they should be prepared to pay £100 for it."

In the comments section of Lupa Pizza's post on Jan. 5, Instagram users were divided over the restaurant's pricing decision. Some were supportive of the move, while others criticized the company for trying to control the interests of their customers.

"I love pineapple on pizza! Ever heard of sweet and salty concoctions? Same thing. I don't get why it's such a no-no for pizza," one person wrote.

"Love it!" one person noted, with pizza, pineapple and clapping hands emojis.

"If you're not keen, don't eat it. Don't control what people want to eat. Your business is to serve people, not control what they want to eat," someone argued.

Where was Hawaiian pizza created?

If you imagine the first-ever Hawaiian pizza being created, you might be visualizing the sandy, sun-filled shores of the namesake island in the Pacific Ocean. The salty air breezing through the towering palm trees as the waves crash alongside the picturesque beach might fill your mind.

Unfortunately, you'll have to trade that image with the flowing waters of Thames River. No, not the iconic River Thames that runs through England. Hawaiian pizza was actually created in 1962 in the Southern Ontario town of Chatham.

Who created Hawaiian pizza?

Back then, Greek-born cook Sotirios "Sam" Panopoulos decided to try something new at his business called Satellite Restaurant. Initially only serving typical American food like burgers and American-Chineses dishes, he eventually decided to start serving up pizza. Soon after, Panopoulos — who died at age 82 on June 8, 2017 — began throwing pineapple onto those pies.

"Those days nobody was mixing sweets and sours and all that. It was plain, plain food," Panopoulos told CBC Radio's "As It Happens" in 2017. He added that back then, pizza eaters only have the options of mushroom, pepperoni and bacon, on top of sauce and cheese. But then, people started putting other toppings they desired.

What inspired the creation of Hawaiian pizza?

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Panopoulos said there was nowhere to find pizza in Canada. "Pizza was coming in through Detroit, through Windsor, and I was in Chatham then, that was the third stop," he said in his "As It Happens" interview.

After visiting Windsor, Ont., a few times, Panopoulos decided to begin trying pizza at his own restaurant. That turned into adding pineapple, ham and bacon to some pies, but no one seemed to like it at first. Then, he explained that people "went crazy about it" since it was hard to find a similar flavour profile in a meal back then.

According to the Globe and Mail, one of the newly-hired cooks at Panopoulos' restaurant was of Chinese descent. His skills allowed the restaurant to expand its menu offerings to include more sweet-and-sour dishes, which might've influenced the creation of Hawaiian pizza.

Why is it called Hawaiian pizza?

Before adding the controversial sweet fruit onto the pizza, Panopoulous would first throw on savoury ham and salty bacon. Then, the pizza chef would open a can of pineapple, drain the tropical fruit and include it on the pie before cooking.

It was the name of the can of pineapple that inspired Panopoulos to title his creation the Hawaiian.

Has Hawaiian pizza always been so divisive?

Pineapple on pizza might be somewhat controversial, but that doesn't mean enemies of Hawaiian pies are necessarily winning the war.

A 2021 poll by Vancouver-based Research Co. found 73 per cent of Canadians would "definitely" or "probably" eat pineapple on pizza. That was up seven percentage points after the pollster asked the same question in July 2019, CBC Radio's "As It Happens" reported in 2021. In 2014, Time also listed Hawaiian pizza on its "13 Most Influential Pizzas of All Time" list.

But the debate on the role of pineapple pizza has, in the past, been so heated it has almost led to political problems. In 2017, former Icelandic President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson reportedly visited a local high school, telling students he was fundamentally against the fruit topping and that he'd like to ban it.

The comment went viral and even pushed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to share his own pro-Pineapple-on-pizza stance in a post declaring himself as "#TeamPineapple."

Pineapple on pizza also divided Italy last year, after renowned pizza maestro Gino Sorbillo made a controversial move. At the start of that year, the Naples chef added the tropical fruit to his menu in Via dei Tribunali, the best known pizza street in the world capital of pizza.

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