If You Thought Pineapple on Pizza Was Bad Wait Till You See This Man's Order

A Hawaiian pizza with a bizarre twist has sent social media into a cheese-based meltdown.

When it comes to pizza toppings, few are as controversial as the combination of ham and pineapple, first created by Greek-born Canadian chef Sam Panopoulos back in 1962.

Hawaiian pizzas continue to split opinion with a 2019 YouGov finding 24 percent of respondents ranked pineapple as one of their least favorite pizza topping.

Hawaiian pizza continues to be a lightning rod for controversy and conversation online. In 2022, a recipe for "Hawaiian Spaghetti" went viral on Twitter, prompting one leading Italian chef to react with fury to the culinary creation.

It's a good job he wasn't around a year earlier to see a YouTuber chef who went viral after creating a pizza, including base and toppings, made entirely from pineapple.

Now another Hawaiian pizza has gone viral for altogether different reasons. In a Reddit post shared by a user posting under the handle u/Spacemancleo, a man who asked to be referred to as simply Dillan showcased what happened when his father ordered a Hawaiian pizza "with the pineapple on the side."

As the image shows, what he got was essentially a ham pizza with pineapple pieces lined up around the edges. The post, which was upvoted over 17,000 times, sent Reddit wild.

One user joked it was "exactly what a Dad would serve you if you asked for pineapple on the side" while another claimed the man's father got "pizza trolled." A third noted "he got what he ordered" and another wondered: "Why order Hawaiian at all if you don't want pineapple on it? Just ask for a pizza with ham."

Dillan told Newsweek this particular pizzeria in Albuquerque, New Mexico, serves pizza by the slice. "What they do is they have cheese pizza ready to go and you tell them what toppings you want and they heat up those toppings and put it onto the cheese pizza," he explained.

In most normal circumstances, that would be fine. But Dillan's dad has always had a unique approach to Hawaiian pizza. "He requested a Hawaiian pizza slice with the pineapple on the side, which he always does, because he doesn't want the pineapple to be cooked," he said. "Typically the pineapple comes in a little plastic cup and he puts that onto the pizza himself."

This time, things went a little differently. "When he opened his pizza box, he saw that they had heated up the pineapple and they lined the sides of his slice with it," Dillan said. "He sent me and my sister a picture of it and we found the misunderstanding really funny and I decided to share it on Reddit."

Dillan said he's used to his dad's unique way of ordering Hawaiian pizza. "I think he just decided a long time ago that he doesn't like cooked pineapple but he does like the flavors of Hawaiian pizza," he said. "He's been ordering it like that since I was a kid."

But despite his father's appreciation for it, he's definitely not a fan. "I personally hate Hawaiian pizza," Dillan said. "I think it's gross but I know a lot of people who love it. It seems to be one of those things people often feel very strongly about whether they love it or hate it."

Asked to elaborate on why he dislikes it, Dillan explained: "I just don't think sweet and tart flavors belong on a pizza. I think of it as a savory food and it is how I prefer it. I do think the Hawaiian pizza slice looked gross but it doesn't really bother me if I don't have to eat it."

He also confirmed that, while his dad was initially surprised at how it was arranged, "he ate the pizza slice just fine" once he stopped laughing. "I think my picture got popular because people could see the humor in the mistake and it is easy to understand what went wrong when you read how it was ordered," Dillan said. "You can immediately understand how the pizza makers took the request very literal. I think it helped that it was Hawaiian pizza because Hawaiian pizza evokes strong emotions and opinions from people."

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