I practiced (admittedly as a secondary field) in precisely this area of law about a mile from this restaurant for a couple of decades. I am as close to certain as one can be as a lawyer that insofar as the employee’s only ground for challenging his dismissal was it was acceptable for him refuse a lawful direction to put pineapple on a pizza because he was Italian, he was going to lose. There was almost certainly more to it than that however.
From the BBC article on the topic:
Other concerns were raised about Tamburella using foul language, his communication style and “escalation of frustration in the workplace”.
The ruling also detailed an incident at work in April this year where Tamburella fractured bones in his right hand when he struck a metal hand rail.
The restaurant’s managing director, Elliot Ingram, told the Daily Mail there was “more to this story than a pizza topping”.
Seems like another case of “so it’s a crime to make plans with friends now?”
If I’ve learned nothing else, falling on one’s sword usually just results in a long hospital stay.
Ditto.
My late wife spent a few years early in her lawyering career as a hearing officer for a corresponding state agency here in the US.
Immigration status was generally not at issue, but whether the employee was entitled to unemployment compensation following the end of their employment was. Which depended on whether their dismissal was justified or not. And of course the USA being the USA, if the worker was wrongfully fired, the ex-employer was on the hook for the extra taxes to pay the benefits. So of course nearly every dismissal led to a fight.
I know zippo about Australian law. But if it resembles US law in this area, yeah, the worker’s claim was a hopeless case even if it had been filed timely.
I’d happily put pineapple on the pizza. Just cut down the amount of cheese by 3/4, make sure to remove some of the moisture from the pineapple before placing it on the pizza, and I’d bet it would taste good.
As far as tradition, I don’t get the argument. I checked out the photos of their pizza on Instagram, and they don’t look like what would have been made in Italy back in the 19th century. It strikes me almost like a Chinese chef saying he would refuse to make General Tso’s pork because traditionally only chicken is used.
Heretic! 
It is like you-know-who said: “I was the King’s loyal servant, but God’s first.”
Indeed, in the article, the employee claims he was illegally sacked subsequent to a workplace injury. We are clearly missing some facts.
I bet the Chinese chef would not make it because he or she would not know what the fuck that is, only that it is not Chinese.
Same. I knew you had good taste.
There is no right or wrong about food. Eat whatever you want.
Pineapple, canadian bacon and onion!
And remember that tomatoes are a new-world plant. So tomato sauce on pizza, while it might have a bit of a provenance, isn’t exactly coming to us direct from Roman times.
It’s not like pizza is actually an ancient Italian food. Tomatoes are a new world fruit. There were certainly flatbread with stuff on top things maybe even called pizza but there wasn’t tomato sauce on it until a couple of centuries ago.
Whether any of us like pineapple on pizza or not is beside the point. When you’re a chef, you make what your customers ask for. To do otherwise is an insult to your heritage as a chef.
Yes, I’ve had a couple of large events catered. (Weddings, bar mitzvahs…) The caterer has a menu, but if you want some minor variant, you ask for it. “I have a few vegans coming, can you make your roasted rooted vegetables with olive oil instead of butter?” And once the caterer said, “no, i can’t make spun sugar decorations because it’s too humid in August, and they won’t work”. Every other request I’ve made they said, “yes”. A friend got a kosher caterer to make a Chinese wedding banquet (kosher). She said that the caterer really liked some of the recipes and may put them on their regular menu. Another friend got an allergy-specialist caterer to do the entire meal kosher. (He said the allergies were harder to navigate than kashrut.)
These are MUCH bigger asks than to put pineapple on pizza.
All that being said , the sounds a bit like the pizza thing was a red herring, and it was really about other stuff.
I agree, but “whatever your customers might ask for” can be tricky. How about “whatever your customers might ask for within reason”? For example, you wouldn’t go into a Chinese food place and ask for a plate of nachos, then get upset because the Chinese place does not have the ingredients for nachos.
That being said, I’m with you. Pineapple (with ham and/or bacon) are perfectly normal pizza toppings. You may not like them, the chef may not like them, but that doesn’t mean that others do like them and want them. Any pizza place should be able to supply them, if it wants to stay in business.
For the record, I do like ham/bacon and pineapple on pizza. Not my first choice, but I won’t say no to such a pizza at a group gathering where a dozen pizzas are ordered. The Deluxe and Pepperoni ones go first, followed by the Veggie; and nobody wants the Hawaiian. Except me. I can happily have as much of that as I want. Works for me.
Soooo…
I guess anchovy and pineapple is totally out of the question?