1An insult to Italian food culture
An Italian chef was sacked from a Brisbane restaurant for refusing to put pineapple on a pizza because it was an “insult to his culture”.
Among them was Tamburella’s refusal to provide ham and pineapple pizza for guests at a function. At the time, the chef had stated that any direction from management “need not be followed when it is offensive to his culture”.
In its ruling released on Tuesday, the commission noted that Tamburella refused to put pineapple on the pizzas because “he considers, as an Italian, that putting pineapple on a pizza is an insult to his culture”.
It also noted that it was the third time Tamburella had refused to use the fruit on pizzas in the past four years. He had previously asked his boss to “check how important it is for Italians not to put pineapple on a pizza”.
Queensland, where the restaurant is located, is considered Australia’s pineapple heartland and produces all of the country’s commercially grown pineapples.
