- These cultural imperialists come along and just throw
pineapple on it and go, hey, we love your pizza!
- It's called freedom, can you taste the freedom?
Delicious.
(upbeat music)
Pineapple on pizza is all about breaking conventions
for the sake of flavor.
- Pineapple does not belong on pizza, it's too sweet,
the Italians tell us this and we should listen to them
because it's their food.
- Fruits in anything jazzes up a dish, craisins in salads,
peaches in salad,
cherries on duck (quacking), lots of good examples there.
- I disagree that fruit belongs in anything.
I think there's a point in which things would come too sweet
and at that point, it's a dessert.
- It's all about balance Michael, you gotta find the balance
and I think pineapple cuts through the fattiness
of the cheese really nicely, gives it a nice balance.
- You know what else cuts through the fattiness
of the cheese, tomatoes.
If they're not acidic enough for you, you could add capers.
- Yeah, but capers are too salty, they're all briney
and I like the fresh, like, brightness of a pineapple.
And cooked tomato sauce is a different acidity
than a pineapple gives.
- The problem with adding sweet things to everything is that
way too much type 2 diabetes, there's an epidemic.
Hawaii, of all places, is one of the worst states
of other nations that have even more diabetes in the US
of the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean nations,
nations that have a lot of pineapple.
- Yeah, but I'm not talking about dumping sugar onto
a pizza, we're just putting a piece of fruit on there.
Fruit is a good sugar.
I understand you would like to mature and the whole country
to mature as a whole but I think there is something
to be said about fun, pineapple pizza's just fun!
- If you wanna have fun with your pizza, drink
three glasses of Prosecco and then have an affogato.
- So just get drunk and caffeinated?
- You don't have to have everything in the one dish.
You can have the dish over there and then you can have
something else over there and something else over there.
Look, pizza is an Italian food,
specifically a Neapolitan food.
In 2017, it was added to the UNESCO's list
of intangible cultural heritage.
I think it's a bit disrespectful to continue to
call something the Italian name pizza
if you're gonna bastardize it so much.
It would be like putting cheese and fruit and wrapping rice
around it and calling it sushi still.
You know, if you're gonna do that, maybe call it
something else like a baked Hawaiian pancake or something.
- I mean, the cheese in the sushi thing I'm definitely
not down with, but I understand--
- Oh, now what?
- That the American cultural palette commanded--
- Fusion is fusion, Jane.
- The reason why it exists is like people came over,
Japanese people came over, they were like,
how do I cater to the American palette?
And that's what they did.
- And I think that's the thing, that's why chefs continue
to sell pineapple on pizza, is because they're kind of
forced to because that's what the consumer is demanding.
But the consumers are wrong.
- I mean, money's not wrong, just saying.
- How about I start sprinkling pineapple
on, like, a lox and schmear bagel?
- That's the wrong fruit to put on a bagel.
- Oh what--
- You know?
- Can I put pineapple in pasta?
- I mean tomato is a fruit, you could put tomato on a--
- Well you know, pasta, pizza, they're both very similar.
- No, I would not say they're similar.
- What about watermelon on a hot dog?
- Honestly, there's a watermelon salsa, it would probably,
you could balance it out, it would be a really bomb salsa.
People will be putting pineapple on pizza for years to come.
I don't think it's ever gonna go away.
- Well, did you know only 13% of Americans put pineapple
in their top three ingredients?
- Yeah, but I bet the top--
- 24% said it was their least favorite ingredient.
So, actually, you know it's not the 1960s anymore.
We're not putting meat in jellies.
Our palettes need to mature, we need to accept that
pineapple on pizza, its time has gone.
If you want a pop of flavor, put a little anchovy on it.
- Fact, Americans actually hate anchovies on their pizza.
- You want me to tell you why
you don't like anchovy on pizza?
It's because you grew up eating pineapple on pizza.
Uhhh, ho oh!
You've ruined your palette for your life.
- I think pineapple on pizza serves to be a bright
pop of flavor on an ooey-gooey cheesy pizza,
especially along with some ham.
And I think pineapple on pizza is fun, and I love fun.
- Putting pineapple on pizza is illustrative of a broader
problem of Americans putting too much sugar in savory foods
which leads to an infantilization of the palette, diabetes
and man-children in the oval office.
[Michael] It has a bit of artichoke.
- Pineapple.
Michael, can you taste the freedom?
Can you taste the freedom?
Like, comment, and subscribe.
We have new videos every week.