Italian Chef Loses Job After Refusing to Put Pineapple on Pizza, Calling It an Insult to His Culture

Documents of a decision issued by the Australian Fair Work Commission, submitted on Tuesday, revealed that Italian chef Davide Tamburilla was dismissed from his position at the “La Costa” restaurant on May 20.

Tamburilla’s dismissal came two weeks after he was summoned to meet with his manager, Elliott Ingram, to discuss what management described as “concerns regarding his job performance.”

Among these concerns was the Italian chef’s refusal to put pineapple on pizza, justifying his stance by stating that doing so constituted an “insult to his culture,” according to the British newspaper The Guardian.

The Italian chef had spent more than three years going through the process of obtaining an Australian permanent residency visa under subclass 186, an employer-sponsored visa that allows foreign workers to obtain permanent residency.

According to Ingram, he waited for the maximum period permitted by law before notifying authorities that he was no longer employing Tamburilla, hoping that the chef’s visa application would be approved before he was legally obligated to withdraw his sponsorship. However, approval did not come in time.

As a result, the migrant worker, who held a temporary visa, was forced to restart the process for a subclass 186 visa.

Ingram explained to the Australian Fair Work Commission the circumstances that led to the escalation of the dispute, stating: “We hosted a large event at the restaurant, with attendees spending over $15,000. Then the person who was covering the entire cost of the event came up and said, ‘Listen, I want a pizza with meat and pineapple.’”

The Commission heard evidence indicating that Tamburilla admitted this was the third time he had refused to carry out such an instruction.

Instead of complying with the restaurant owner’s request, he asked the customer to “verify how important it is to Italians not to put pineapple on pizza.”

Although Ingram acknowledged that pineapple pizza, which divides opinion widely among fans of the dish, is not his personal favorite, he clarified that his extensive experience in the hospitality industry had taught him the necessity of flexibility.

This incident takes on a particularly ironic tone in the Australian state of Queensland, where pineapple is so popular that a giant sculpture was erected in its honor to celebrate its status.

In a state that celebrates this tropical fruit to such an extent, many might view the refusal to use it on pizza as an offense in itself.