Pineapple is a tropical fruit grown in the islands of Hawaii and other tropical climate places.  America started canning these delicacies to sell to other countries and other Americans so they can put it on whatever they want and eat it however they please.  Nowadays though, putting pineapple on things that, “pineapple doesn’t belong on” is almost as bad as a hate crime.  Tell someone that you like pineapple and you’ll get one of two reactions, a hushed “me too it’s so good right.” Like you guys are coconspirators in a big mob boss crime family, or you’ll get the reaction of, “Gross! That’s disgusting!  I can’t believe you would destroy this sanctuary that is America with that disgusting opinion”.  I am not ashamed to admit that I like pineapple on my pizza and other foods that pineapple usually isn’t found on.  It brings a new level of flavor to a dish that would only improve because of the new addition. 

 In this world we have many kinds of flavor that we all know of sweet, salty, sour, and savory.  These flavors can all stand alone, but when combined can take you on a journey of taste.  These flavors are supposed to be combined to make other kinds of great combinations.  Chocolate covered pretzels are example of sweet and salty combining to make a great combination and a great snack.  Barb-b-que sauce being added to your ribs or anything else adds a little sweet to something as savory as a meat.  These flavor combinations gives life to the culinary world and is what many chefs try to perfect when making new recipes and different kinds of food.  So, why can’t pineapple go on pizza?  It falls into the food category of sweet and savory.  Ham is even added to add the extra savory to the mix by giving the new kind of pizza another component of savory.  This kind of pizza doesn’t break any kinds of rules and doesn’t ruin the way humanity lives and thrives, but why is it treated like such a blasphemous concept?  Some people are too afraid to try it and because of that are stuck in their ways of never knowing if the pizza is good or not, but because it’s a little weirder than the normal peperoni pizza, it’s not good.  Before people are so quick to judge I think they should try a piece like I did when I was younger to find the appreciation for this food from the gods. 

 I remember like it was yesterday, my family was going to my grandparents’ house in Peoria to celebrate some birthdays.  My family always does a huge celebration for summer birthdays because we would go on vacation and it was easier to celebrate all of the summer birthdays in one day.  So when we went to my grandparents house me and my three older brothers and younger sister get out of this minivan to go into my grandparents house.  I’m always really excited to go to my grandparents’ house especially for a celebration because of all of the delicious polish food that we would always eat, but this summer birthday bash was a little different.  There was only pizza for us to eat!  The disappointment quickly washed away though when my grandfather was talking about how he was excited that we finally got his favorite kind of pizza.  “What kind of pizza is better than polish food?” was a question that was running through my mind, so I asked him.  He opened the box to reveal this underappreciated pizza sitting there with pineapples and ham covering the layer of melted cheese with some marinara sauce covering the freshly baked dough giving this heavenly smell of the melted cheese with something a little sweet on top.  I’d be lying if I wasn’t suspicious, “Pineapple on pizza? That would taste weird wouldn’t it?” As a kid though I was raised on the mentality that I can’t say I didn’t like something unless I tried it.  After seeing my grandfather look so excited at the delicious frisbee with the odd toppings I had to try some.  I remember taking my first bite when the pineapple exploded in my mouth and the savory bite of ham combine making almost a firework show in my mouth.  These extremely different flavors combining to become one delicious experience.  I know I’ll always get a Hawaiian pizza every time I order pizza from anywhere.  Because of the experience I always make sure to try things even though it may seem weird or maybe like it wouldn’t go together. 

Many people disagree however with statements like fruit shouldn’t go on meats or other kinds of foods.  This however isn’t at all the case there’s many examples of fruit being added to many kinds of foods that aren’t sweet at all.  There’s a very popular salad that has slices of apple in it and that isn’t a sweet dish.  One of the most popular burgers at Red Robin is the Bonzai burger which has a ring of pineapple on the burger and covers the meat in a sweet teriyaki sauce to make the meat sweeter than usual.  There are many examples of foods that don’t seem like they would go well together but end up making amazing combinations.  Some people just don’t like pineapple, which isn’t something that I can argue against in this scenario specifically.  There are so many other foods that people won’t eat because it isn’t the “average” the people eat.  These people are missing out on a bunch of foods that they might enjoy if they would just try a singular bite.  The only thing stopping you from trying these combinations and enjoying them for yourself is you. 

Pineapple on pizza is a delicious choice of pizza and people who don’t like it probably haven’t tried it and are too stubborn to try it, but the pizza or the people who do like it shouldn’t be ostracized because of their preference of taste.  In the end there are other things that are food related that other people don’t agree on and that’s okay because we all have likes and dislikes.  We all can agree to disagree and, in the end, eat our own favorite foods with our favorite people enjoying a wonderful time.