I’ll be totally honest with you: spoiler alert—I love Hawaiian pizza. Love it! In fact, I had it for lunch yesterday (and the funny thing is, I usually hate pineapples). But the forbidden love between a person and a pizza with pineapples is somewhat a controversial topic these days. Far from everyone agrees that it’s the best type of pizza around. But what do real Hawaiians think about it?
That’s what one redditor wanted to find out! So they asked their fellow Reddit users from Hawaii to share their thoughts. And, boy, were some of them angry! Some of them said that this is nowhere near ‘real’ Hawaiian pizza (the natives are huge fans of spam, Kalua pig, Maui onions, and eggs). Check out what else people had to say below and read on for our exclusive interview with the author of the thread.
Some of you Pandas will probably already know that Hawaiian pizza isn’t really Hawaiian at all! It has its doughy roots in the Land of Syrup, Moose, and Friendship—Canada.
We also reached out to Hawaiian redditor Coberst. They told Bored Panda all about cooking, flavor combinations, and ‘real’ Hawaiian food and cuisine culture. “The concept of combining sweet and savory is quite popular around the world. Think about the exploding popularity of chamoy and tajin on fruit coming from Mexico, the classic charcuterie boards that feature different meats, cheese, and jams from France, and from China the ever so popular BBQ pork (or cha shu). It is no wonder the combination of the sweet pineapple with the salty ham would be a hit,” Coberst explained the rise of Hawaiian pizza worldwide. Read on for their brilliant insights below, dear Pandas!
#1
When you live in Hawaii, all pizza is Hawaiian pizza… even without the ham and pineapple.
Image source: blipsman
#2
Real Hawaiian pizza is maui onion + shredded kalua pork -Hawaii
Image source: djn808
#3
It’s so dumb that the rest of the English speaking world dumps pineapple on something and it’s instantly ‘Hawaiian.’ (Including Canada, where ham+pineapple pizza was invented.)
Image source: carmium
#4
They need to make spam pizza, then it would truly be Hawaiian
Image source: TwitterGooglePlus
#5
My wife is native Hawaiian and is ok with pineapple on pizza. However she is not ok with calling it Hawaiian pizza. Pineapple isn’t native to Hawaii, and putting pineapple on sh*t doesn’t make it Hawaiian.
Image source: zergbait
#6
Native Hawaiian here! The pizza is in no way Hawaiian… but I love pineapples on pizza lol. Would also replace the ham with spam.
Image source: jammincree
#7
Doesn’t have enough Spam in it.
Image source: NoKindofHero
#8
Am a fan although I get sh*t on for it. Hawaiian pizza is not at all Hawaiian but I don’t really care cause it’s tasty.
Image source: majorityrules
#9
It just as hamburgers feel to Hamburgers.
Image source: ObjectiveMall
#10
90% of people who ‘hate’ pineapple pizza have just been peer-pressured by society into thinking that way. The other 10% though, they mean business. They’re not messing around.
Image source: LordPoopturd
#11
Bacon and pineapple is fire on pizza and whoever has a big issue with pineapple on pizza needs to find something more important to put their energy into and stop worrying about what other people like lol
Image source: i__love__you
#12
You know what’s great on pizza? Whatever the hell you like to eat on pizza.
Image source: sturgillskywalker
#13
Live on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Typically I am not a crazy fan of Hawaiian pizza, but if you add some peppers, it completely changes the whole pizza.” Also, Kona Brewing Company’s Hawaiian pizza is out of this goddamn world. They have a porter BBQ sauce that they use instead of tomato sauce, and they add BBQ pulled pork to their Hawaiian pizza. It’s probably my favorite pizzas on the island.
Image source: paul_swimmer
#14
As someone who lives in Hawaii, and travels a lot, I am far more offended by the crap they are calling poke bowls. Put whatever you want on your pizza. I don’t care. If you use anything other than fish for your poke bowl, it ain’t poke!
Image source: laura-michele78
#15
Born and raised, live on the mainland now. Simultaneously don’t care at all and am deeply offended by it. Will eat it any day of the week, but I prefer a Pepperoni/pineapple.
Image source: Murdathon3000
#16
I approve pineapples on pizzas.
Image source: HololiveHistorian
#17
It’s fine, but I don’t like that it’s called Hawaiian pizza, just because of the pineapples. It’s just annoying considering pineapples are more common in Australia, and that it was made in Canada.
Image source: AdDisastrous2753
#18
Hawaiian here, it’s f***ing disgusting and a crime against humanity but like French fries aren’t from France Hawaiian pizza isn’t from Hawaii.
Image source: matchless2
#19
I think its insulting that everything Hawaiian is pineapple related. :( We are more than just pineapples. Its like saying everything with rice is Asian
Image source: KingRaphion
#20
I come from a heavily anti-hawaiian pizza family, except I really like hawaiian pizza because goddamn is it good, but whenever I mention that I want hawaiian pizza I’m treated like the anti-christ and ignored. Why is hawaiian pizza so discriminated? It’s good pizza! Why would people eat white cheese and broccoli pizza and say it was good but then act like hawaiian pizza is made of trash straight from a garbage can? Anyways that was my pizza rant, if you like white cheese broccoli pizza, nothing against you I just don’t personally like it.
Image source: PootrikProductions
#21
Agrees in Kailua. Oh wait. all pizza is good
Image source: LillyPasta
#22
Born and raised on the big island, I actually really like it but too much pineapple is a massive no.
Image source: _Kqrmq
#23
I actually prefer bacon over ham for Hawaiian pizza.
Image source: SquanchingOnPao
#24
My Hawaiian wife finds it revolting – it’s banned in our house. Canadian bacon and pineapples from Mexico have nothing to do with Hawaii.
Image source: bigmyq
#25
The Hawaiian word for pineapple is “hua kahiki” meaning foreign fruit. It became a major crop in Hawaii in the early 1900s following the decline of sugar cane.
In all that time, It hasn’t been incorporated into any dishes that would be considered traditional Hawaiian food.
It tastes delicious on pizza. Eat whatever you want. No one’s forcing you.
Image source: pjkeoki
#26
I like it, not my favorite but I dont get the hate it gets. Most people I know who hates it hasn’t even tried it.
Image source: iMaruga_Cat
#27
I’m from Hawaii but not ethnically Hawaiian. Pineapple is hands down my favorite topping. Ham? Don’t like it in general.
Image source: camphor_jelly
#28
Not Hawaiian, but live on/ from Hawaii. I think the pineapple just adds a little sweetness. It’s not my favorite but it’s tastes pretty good.
Image source: aCkadoodledo
#29
Raised on Oahu. Just because it has pineapple doesn’t make it Hawaiian. I don’t prefer it but will eat it if only choice because I love pizza
Image source: akumamatata8080
#30
Spam on Pizza is my Hawaiian Pizza
PS. Pineapple isn’t even native of Hawaii
Image source: My_Immortal_Flesh
#31
I actually used to own a pizza parlor in Hawaii – user name checks out. Even though I was ‘haole’ my clientele was mostly local.
Ham and pineapple was a very popular combination – whether it went on pizza or not. (The use of Canadian bacon was an extravagance most locals could not afford, and didn’t make the pizza any better in our opinion.) Any kind of meat/fruit dish was a winner.
We even made a “Barbecue Hawaiian” pizza that used sweet barbecue sauce as a base instead of tomato sauce, mozz, ham, bacon, pineapple, and caramelized onions. It was one of our most popular combos.
Image source: pizzaforce3
#32
You’re going to have to be a little more specific or you may get mail. I was born, raised and still live in Hawaii, but I’m not Hawaiian. I’m a Hawaii resident who absolutely loves ham and pineapple with barbecue sauce on pizza.
Image source: argyle9000
#33
It’s the ham that I don’t really care for. If I’m going to have pineapple on pizza, I prefer it with pepperoni and jalapeños
Image source: KopitarFan
#34
Didn’t like it before I moved to Maui, started craving it one day and never looked back.
If you ever on Maui, go to Flatbread Pizza in Pa’ia!
Image source: -AMARYANA-
#35
tastes ok, but it does highlight the consumerism of Hawaii and Hawaiians them/ourselves. It was just capitalism thinking of a way to sell more pizzas. I don’t mind it, the acid and sweet of the pineapple almost cancels the different type of acid in tomatoes and makes it pleasant for me, but I’d enjoy it more if it were renamed.
Image source: fishgang2014
#36
As a hawaiian who lives in the UK and has never lived in hawaii or never known a soul who is hawaiian. I love hawaiian pizza
Image source: petepeterlong
#37
Eh, we really did grow a lot of pineapples for a while.
Image source: VoltasPistol
#38
I really like getting half meat lovers half Hawaiian. Gives a little bit of sweetness on half of it.
Image source: drewst18
#39
Leave it be as it is…some like it some don’t… It’s a good thing we have choices
Image source: Wrong-Bullfrog4461
#40
Started loving it after age 30.
Image source: ThreeRRRs
#41
Never has enough pineapple…
Image source: Libre-Abaci
#42
Pineapple and ham should be called Dole Haole pizza
Image source: Kanaloa87
#43
am Hawaiian… allergic to pineapple
Image source: 808_N808
#44
Hawaiians would probably call it imperialist pizza. For the rest of us residents of Hawai’i I like it, but the only place to get a decent slice is JJ Dolans.
Image source: webbisode_andronicus
#45
Never understood it. Give me one with spam and egg and I’d be happy. Maybe some kalua pork too.
Image source: Fvstokes
#46
pacific islander here. it’s not really hawaiian it’s just pineapple and boom it’s called hawaiian. nothing special about it.
Image source: FighterMan9836
#47
I don’t want to blow anyone’s mind here but I’m pretty sure it’s called Hawaiian pizza because there’s pineapple on it. Just speculation of course but it’s speculation based on the fact it’s just because of the pineapple.
Image source: KingRokk
#48
I’m not against it but I don’t think it’s necessary. The pineapple should be really understated (very thinly sliced)
It’s rarely done correctly in my experience
Image source: kaldrazidrim
#49
Call it a damn Canadian pizza, they’re the ones who made it anyway. Pineapple isn’t even from Hawaiʻi it’s a fruit brought here as a cash crop by the people who overthrew our government and stole our damn country. There are actual Hawaiian things we can put our name on, stop putting it on s**t that seems “tropical”
Also Hawaiians refers to the Native people of Hawaiʻi not just people who live in Hawaiʻi. Those are residents, Hawaiian is a race. Just a note about all those people chiming in who merely “live in Hawaiʻi” because that means they don’t have a connection to Hawaiian culture or heritage
Image source: hawaiianbeachbum
#50
I like how pineapples aren’t even from here. But even though I live in Hawaii I still don’t like pizza with pineapples on top of it. There are way better foods then that EVEN NORMAL PIZZA
Image source: papiohunter
#51
Born and raised and most of adulthood in Hawaii and the only person I met who’s into Hawaiian pizza was a military guy from Atlanta.
Image source: Gypsyrocker
#52
Lived on Big Island for a year, they know how to do pizza there. If you ever go to Kona, check out Get Sum Pizza. They do it right. If you get there in the spring you can get white pineapple on your slice.
Image source: davy89irox
#53
We do not recognize it as “Hawaiian pizza,” and we laugh at the haoles who call it that. Although some people do think it tastes good and that’s fine. I like pineapple on pizza since it adds sweetness but throwing pineapple on pizza is not Hawaiian pizza. Pro tip: do not bring up pineapple on pizza with a local unless you want to get into a heated argument.
Image source: bichonfire
#54
Why is everything with pineapple called Hawaiian anyways? I hate Hawaiian pizza or Hawaiian sandwich!
Image source: D-C-R-E
Follow Us
