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Knows how to make (and sell) pizza: Gino Sorbillo from Naples
Photo: Salvatore Laporta / Kontrolab / ip / picture alliance / IPA
Pizza is almost a sacred tradition in Italy – and Italians attach great importance to their unwritten culinary laws. You have to know this to understand the excitement that a pizza chef from Naples has now caused with a video on social media. Gino Sorbillo, owner of several restaurants in Italy and abroad, explained on Instagram that he wants pizza with pineapple on his menu. Of all things! In Italy, pineapple pizza is considered a culinary mortal sin.
"Guys, don't freak out. I'm attached to tradition," says Sorbillo, who expanded his pizzeria to Miami and Tokyo. But he still put the pizza on the menu. Now he's giving it a try. In the video, he uses a fork and knife to make a pizza topped with pineapple and lots of cheese with a thick dough edge. His conclusion is positive: "Guys, it's good."
Sorbillo is best known for his pizzeria in the historic center of Naples. His restaurant in the hometown of pizza is popular with celebrities. Just recently, the Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic and the Colombian singer Maluma ate pizza with him.
Sorbillo is actually considered a follower of the classic pizza tradition. A few years ago, he campaigned for the "art of the Neapolitan pizza maker" to be included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. This happened in 2017. Legend has it that the first pizza was baked in Naples in 1889.
On social media, critical reactions increased after the video. "Real pizza is something else. Let's leave this to the Americans," wrote one user. I love pizza and I love pineapple, but let's not mix the sacred with the profane," another commented. Some critics accused Sorbillo of a clever media campaign: "You're really clever and you know how to do marketing." In fact, Sorbillo invited his followers to try the pineapple pizza at his restaurant.
ele/dpa