Italian chef fired after refusing to put pineapple on pizza
He had told his employer, an Australian restaurant, that pineapple on pizza was "offensive" to Italian culture.
Italian chef dismissed after refusing to add pineapple to pizza
The chef had told the Queensland restaurant that putting pineapple on pizza was "offensive" to his culture
An Italian chef who was dismissed from a Brisbane restaurant had refused to put pineapple on a pizza because he said it was an "insult to his culture".
Davide Tamburella was let go from the now-closed La Costa restaurant in May, two weeks after a meeting with management that followed a series of complaints about his conduct.
Those complaints included Tamburella’s refusal to make ham and pineapple pizza for guests at a function. At the time, the chef said any instruction from management "need not be followed when it is offensive to his culture".
The details emerged after the chef took his case to Australia’s Fair Work Commission, arguing that he had been unfairly dismissed.
In a ruling published on Tuesday, the commission said Tamburella’s refusal to put pineapple on pizzas was because "he considers, as an Italian, that putting pineapple on a pizza is an insult to his culture".
It also said this was the third time Tamburella had refused to use the fruit on pizzas in the past four years.
He had earlier asked his boss to "check how important it is for Italians not to put pineapple on a pizza".
Queensland, where the restaurant is based, is regarded as Australia’s pineapple heartland and grows all of the country’s commercially produced pineapples.
On the Sunshine Coast, tourists often stop to pose beside The Big Pineapple, a heritage-listed 16m-tall fibreglass model of the fruit that has become a local landmark.
The state of Queensland is considered Australia's pineapple heartland
Other issues raised about Tamburella included foul language, his communication style and "escalation of frustration in the workplace".
The ruling also described an incident at work in April this year in which Tamburella fractured bones in his right hand after hitting a metal hand rail.
Tamburella had hoped the restaurant would sponsor a visa for him that would allow skilled workers to become permanent residents.
But after he was sacked, the restaurant stopped that process, the tribunal heard.
He lost his unfair dismissal case because the application had been lodged too late, according to the ruling.
The restaurant’s managing director, Elliot Ingram, told the Daily Mail there was "more to this story than a pizza topping".
On his LinkedIn profile, the chef says that throughout his career he has focused on "delivering exceptional food" and "improving business performance".
Three months ago, he posted a "letter for chefs" with the theme "respecting the ingredients".
His LinkedIn profile says he now works at another Brisbane restaurant. A BBC check found that pineapple is not listed on that restaurant’s menu.