"Margarita with pineapples": a famous pizza chef from Naples surprised Italians with an unusual pizza

A famous pizza chef has made a splash in Italy with his pineapple pizza. Gino Sorbillo presented a pineapple pizza called "Pineapple Margherita" at his restaurant on Via dei Tribunali in Naples, the birthplace of pizza.

Sorbillo, a third-generation pizza chef, created the dish to "fight food prejudice". He said: "Unfortunately, people follow the crowd and form their opinions based on other people's views or what they hear," NewsBytes writes.

Sorbillo's creation, the Pineapple Margarita, costs 7 euros ($7.70). But this is no ordinary Hawaiian pizza: it's a bianca pizza, devoid of a tomato layer with baked pineapple, which gives it a caramelized flavor.

After being cooked in a wood-fired oven, the top is sprinkled with micro-shavings of two types of smoked cacoricotta cheese made from Sardinian goat's milk and Cilento buffalo milk. Sorbillo believes that this mixture makes the pizza "very tasty."

The reaction to the pineapple pizza was mixed, with some Italians expressing their disapproval on social media and national television. However, Sorbillo claims that those who tried it enjoyed it.

Food journalist Barbara Politi said: "It's delicious, it's fresh, I'm all for it." According to CNN, she also noted that pineapple has been a part of European food culture since Christopher Columbus brought it back from Guadeloupe in 1493.

Sorbillo claims that pizza toppings have evolved, with ingredients such as mortadella, chopped pistachios, powdered olives, and mozzarella foam appearing in recent years.

He believes his pizzaiolo ancestors "would be baffled" by his pineapple creation, but adds: "You have to try it first, and then give your opinion. They didn't even put ham or arugula on pizza before, but now it's normal."

Sorbillo believes that changing one ingredient or cooking step can create a completely new dish, and predicts that pineapple pizza will soon appear on menus in Naples and beyond.