Hawaiian Pizza? WSJ Puts Some Ham and Pineapple Pies to the Test

Hawaiian Pizza? WSJ Puts Some Ham and Pineapple Pies to the Test

Iceland’s president has apologised for suggesting he would like to ban pineapple on pizza, admitting the comments “went too far”.

Gudni Johannesson sparked international headlines last February when a student asked for his thoughts on the controversial pizza topping during a school visit.

Mr Johannesson, who was elected in 2016 and is a hugely popular figure in Iceland for his laid-back leadership style, replied that he was “fundamentally opposed” to it and that he would like to ban it.

“That’s where the influence of this office sort of, yeah, got the better of me,” Mr Johannesson told Canadian radio host Carol Off this week. “I went a step too far.”

In the wake of the controversy, the Icelandic leader was forced to issue a clarification.

“I like pineapples, just not on pizza,” he wrote on Facebook.

“I do not have the power to make laws which forbid people to put pineapples on their pizza. I am glad that I do not hold such power. Presidents should not have unlimited power. I would not want to hold this position if I could pass laws forbidding that which I don’t like. I would not want to live in such a country.”

He added: “For pizzas, I recommend seafood.”

Canadians were particularly upset about the comments — Ontario restaurateur Sam Panopoulos claimed to have invented the Hawaiian pizza in 1962.

He told CBC at the time: “He should know better. I’m sure he is a lot younger than I am and I was doing pizza when I was a young guy, you know what I mean?”

He added that the Icelandic President’s seafood recommendation was simply a way of spruiking the country’s fishing industry. Mr Panopoulos died in June, just a few months later, at the age of 82.

Speaking to CBC this week, Mr Johannesson reflected on the controversy.

“I had to think it through and sort of calm these stormy waters and I issued a statement, a presidential statement, on pineapples on pizza,” he said. “As much as I do not like pineapple on pizza, the individual freedom of having the topping of your choice overrides that.”

He maintained his opposition to the tropical fruit.

“I have nothing against pineapples, but when they’re put on pizza they get all sort of mushy,” he said.

But he accepted Mr Panopoulos’ claim about his motives.

“I think Sam Panopoulos correctly guessed what was behind all this,” he told Off. “Iceland are a nation of fisherfolk and, you know, if everyone put seafood on their pizzas, that would be a very nice thing to do.”

frank.chung@news.com.au