In addition to kebabs and gyros, Hawaiian pizza was the deciding factor for young people in the 1980s to survive in the German provinces. Yes, beyond the city limits there must be something other than bratwurst and cheese bread, he thought. Spinning knots of flesh that could only be dealt with by a machete. Or a global dough from an oven made of wood that connects the Central Pacific to the Mediterranean Sea. So it was this, a wide world. Then you would have never guessed how polarizing pizza can be.

Hawaiian Pizza was invented in 1962. By a Greek who immigrated to Canada. A good 60 years later, Sam Panopoulos’ idea of ​​mixing pineapple over yeast dough with mozzarella and tomato sauce has particularly divided the digital world. Supporters of iron face tough opponents on social networks. Is this really about pizza?

Like a lot of things where the front seems pretty strict these days, the thing really started quite comfortably with Hawaiian Pizza. Since the 1950s, North Americans have devoted themselves to all kinds of culinary experiments with great enthusiasm. Canned Pineapple from Hawaiian and Italian Frozen Pizza Dough? Sure, something can be made from it.

“Pizza with pineapple? That’s a cake!”

Until “Sociégione Veres Pizza Napoletana” was established in 1984 and it was declared that it was fighting against the “cultural and commercial distortion” of its traditional food. Here and there newspapers now deal with this subject. new York Times For example, asked a Neapolitan pizza maker their opinion (“A pizza with pineapple? It’s a cake!”). On most pizzeria tables, however, logic did not play a major role. One of them loved just pineapple over pizza, the other did not.

And then came the Internet.

In December 2009, Facebook launched a very successful page called “Pineapple Doesn’t In The Pizza”, followed by a reddit group in 2015 in which tens of thousands of “Nights of Pineapples” again fought for “deliciousness” . Subject polarized, including politics. While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posed as a friend of Hawaii, Iceland President Gudni Th. Johansson wanted to ban the combination in 2017. At some point the debate was no longer about food, they recently watched wisely The economist. It was only about the “demonstration of polarization”. Pollsters also emphasized the subject, perhaps to deflect attention from their weaknesses in predicting the 2016 Brexit vote or the US election.

Pizza Debate shows how easily people can get affected

US officials such as the “Cyber ​​Security and Infrastructure Security Agency” finally showed, using the example of the pizza debate, how easily any community can be affected, even instigated through posts or memes And can be divided. Hello trolls! Hello Donald Trump.

To prepare for further publicity and diversionary maneuvers, psychologists at the University of Cambridge eventually developed an online game aimed at influencing the inhabitants of a fictional place and allowing them to get into arguments with one another. Occasion: Annual “Pineapple Pizza Festival” at Village Chowk. “Do you know? Pineapple is non-Italian?” “But not doing so is un-American!” “And baby boomers are blamed for everything.” The most.

Well, of course Hawaiian Pizza is just a symbol. How easily a person can get into an argument with other people. Especially their digital small cap heats up very quickly. However, the controversy over pineapple pizza also illustrates how deliberately scattered, perfectly brief pseudo-subjects can be captured with public attention. This should be considered again and again. There will be re-election to the BundesTag soon.