Food is a big part of Italian culture, so don't be surprised if restaurants in Italy refuse to serve you pineapple pizza, or tell you off for putting Parmesan on fish.
Undaunted, Englishman Ben Reid decided to go on a food crime spree in the country, intentionally annoying the locals on his way, some of whom resorted to extreme methods to express their discontent.
In a viral clip shared on Instagram under the username ben_reid_, he purposely consumes typical Italian foods and drinks in ways designed to get a reaction in restaurants, and he certainly succeeds.
The 22-year-old, who based in Los Angeles, can be seen putting ice in his red wine, which prompted a waiter to scold him and take the drink back; folding his pizza, even adding ketchup to a different pizza; and cutting his spaghetti with a pair of scissors as the waiters stare in shock.
The video comes with a caption that says: "Every single Italian I pissed off in the year 2023" followed by: "They love me."
Reid told Newsweek: "A few clips I filmed were genuine reactions and a lot of the reactions which happened off camera in real situations I would then re-film on camera.
"The worst reaction I got was when I brought pineapple to a restaurant and when the pizzaiolo alerted the waiter he brought out a bat. I couldn't tell whether this was a joke or not, but I removed the pineapple and ate my pizza normally."
He also added that his clips were inspired by his Italian roommate, who also gets annoyed by his food faux pas, and that once he realized how much of a sensitive topic this was for Italians he wanted to travel to Italy and put it to the test.
It's not just Italians who hate pineapple on on pizza. According to data by YouGov, only 12 percent of pizza-eating Americans consider pineapple one of their top three favorite toppings while 24 percent say that pineapple is one of their least favorite toppings.
The video quickly went viral and has so far received over 3,778,711 likes on Instagram.
One user, mashbitmusic, commented: "Understandable reaction from my fellow Italians, have a good day."
And fritzajacquet_ said: "He's currently banned in like 12 restaurants."
Habibi.blocksberg89 wrote: "No need to be italian. I am f****** offended and I am from Germany."
Correction 03/18/24, 10:05 a.m. ET: This article and its headline were updated to reflect that the man in the video is English, not American.
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Maria Azzurra Volpe is a Newsweek Lifestyle Reporter based in London. Her focus is reporting on lifestyle and trends-related stories, ... Read more
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