Top 9 Hawaiian Pizza Origin Story Facts (And Other Stuff)
Top 9 Hawaiian Pizza Origin Story Facts (And Other Stuff)
Love it or hate it, if you’ve ever ordered pizza, you’ve likely had the option of ordering a Hawaiian pizza. Is Hawaiian pizza all that it seems? Where did it come from? And why do so many people hate the fact that other people put pineapple on their pizza? Here are the facts you need to know.
Not only is Hawaiian pizza not actually from Hawaii, it’s not even from the United States. Sam Panopoulosimmigrated to Canada from Greece in 1954 and opened the Satellite Restaurant with his brother in London, Ontario. When the Satellite hired a Chinese–Canadian cook and started adding some sweet and savory dishes to the menu, the inspiration for pineapple on pizza was born.
But the idea for making pizza at the restaurant came after a trip to nearby Windsor, when Panopoulos first tasted pizza, a food trend that was slowly trickling into Canada. In an interview with the CBC, Panopoulos said,
“Along the way we threw some pineapples on it and nobody liked it at first. But after that, they went crazy about it. Because those days nobody was mixing sweets and sours and all that.”
Panopoulos later added ham to the pizza and named the pizza “Hawaiian” after the brand of canned pineapple he used. Don’t Eat Hawaiian Pizza Again Until You Watch This.
