The polarizing Hawaiian pizza was invented in Canada, not Hawaii, by a Greek immigrant.

Food & Drink · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The world's most debated pizza topping has a surprisingly cosmopolitan origin story. Far from its namesake, this Canadian creation was inspired by sweet and sour Chinese cuisine. Despite its global popularity, the combination of pineapple and ham remains a culinary lightning rod, sparking international debates and even presidential jokes.

The Hawaiian pizza was created in 1962 by Sam Panopoulos, a Greek-born Canadian, at the Satellite Restaurant in Chatham-Kent, Ontario. Panopoulos, who had experience preparing Canadian Chinese dishes, sought to experiment with the contrast of sweet and sour flavors. He combined pineapple with ham or bacon, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese. The name was not a tribute to the U.S. state of Hawaii, but rather a simple branding choice derived from the brand of canned pineapple he used, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company.

The dish's reception has been famously divisive. While Time magazine named it one of the 13 most influential pizzas of all time in 2014, public opinion remains split. Critics often point to the clash between the sweetness of the fruit and the saltiness of the meat as the primary source of their distaste. In 2016, a Harris Poll survey of U.S. adults ranked pineapple among the top three least-favorite pizza toppings, alongside anchovies and mushrooms. Conversely, a 2019 YouGov survey found that while 24% of American pizza eaters dislike pineapple, 12% count it among their top three favorites.

The cultural reach of the Hawaiian pizza is vast. It has been a staple in Australia, where it accounted for 15% of pizza sales in 1999, and it was the most commonly available pizza in a 2015 review of independent UK takeaways. The dish has even entered the political sphere; in 2017, Icelandic president Guðni Th. Jóhannesson jokingly suggested he would ban pineapple as a topping, prompting a global social media reaction and a defense of the dish from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. As author John Green noted, the pizza represents a truly cosmopolitan invention: a Greek immigrant in Canada using a South American fruit on an Italian dish, which then found its greatest popularity in Australia.

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