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Mouthing Off
Stop pineapple on pizza fights. Chinese don’t bemoan ‘fusion’ food so why should Italians?
- Hongkongers used the classic debate to rile Italians after complaints over Cheung Ka-long’s Olympic gold, but it’s not worth anyone’s energy
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Andrew Sun has dabbled in many shades of the media spectrum for 25 years, from college radio, TV, print and online columnist to starting film festivals, managing music labels and authoring food books.
Hong Kong fencer Cheung Ka-long won his 2024 Olympic gold medal after a dramatic, exciting final. The close match against an Italian opponent required video reviews, with Cheung eventually edging the match with a score of 15-14.
The Italians were naturally disappointed. An official complaint was lodged about some of the refereeing. Worse, armchair critics bemoaned it had to be biased because the judges were also from East Asia (Taiwan and South Korea).
Those comments were ignorant, but maybe understandable. Previously in Italy, I have seen restaurants that say they serve “Korean/Chinese” food. If you did not know better, you might assume it is kind of the same thing.
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Against the griping, Hong Kong fans posted themselves enjoying pineapple pizza to celebrate the victory. Of course, nothing irritates the pizzaiolos of Naples more than putting juicy rings of fruit on a pie.
Most of my open-minded Italian friends rolled their eyes at this storm in a teacup, but there are those who still fume at pineapple as a pizza topping. To them, I say: it is time you get over it. The outrage is not worth your energy or the stress.
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