An Italian chef fired from a Brisbane restaurant after refusing to put pineapple on a pizza says he would make the same call again, despite the dispute costing him his job and landing him at the centre of an unlikely international debate about culinary authenticity.
Davide Tamburella was dismissed from La Costa Restaurant and Bar in Fortitude Valley on 20 May after declining for the third time to add the fruit topping to a pizza, following repeated directions from management to do so. The incident has since drawn attention from broadcasters as far away as Britain and India.
Why the Brisbane chef drew the line at pineapple on pizza
Tamburella says the refusal was never about personal taste. He is quick to point out that he actually enjoys eating pineapple. His objection was rooted in something far more personal: a recipe passed down from his grandmother, and a conviction that the integrity of traditional Italian dough must be protected.
"The flavour of the dough is really important and the flavour of the dough has to be respected," Tamburella said. "If you add the acidity and the sweetness of pineapple, you're going to cover all that."
He said he was hired specifically to prepare authentic Italian food and regarded the repeated request to add pineapple as an insult to his culinary culture. The original dispute arose when a customer celebrating a birthday asked for the topping.
La Costa's general manager, Elliot Ingram, defended the restaurant's position, arguing that pineapple on pizza is a common and accepted offering in Australian Italian restaurants. Ingram acknowledged his own preference leans toward pepperoni, but said customer requests of that nature are entirely reasonable in an Australian context.
"At the end of the day, we're not in Italy, we're in Australia, and we have to go with what the customer's reasonable requests are," Ingram said.
Ingram also indicated the dismissal was not solely about the topping, pointing to concerns about Tamburella's communication style and the way his frustration escalated in the workplace over the course of the dispute.
Other toppings: where Tamburella draws further lines
While pineapple was the flashpoint, Tamburella's views on pizza toppings extend further. When asked about eggs on pizza, he was surprisingly open, saying both raw and cooked eggs could work. Barbecue sauce, however, earned an emphatic rejection on the grounds that it is too sweet. And chicken, a popular pizza topping in Australia, did not pass muster either.
"Chicken is not something that Italians would see in a restaurant in general," he said.
Fair Work application dismissed, restaurant now closed
Following his dismissal, Tamburella lodged an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission. The application was ultimately dismissed, however, because it had been filed outside the required time limit, leaving Tamburella without a formal remedy.
In a further twist, the restaurant where the dispute unfolded has since shut down permanently.
Despite the professional setbacks, Tamburella remains firm in his position. "I don't have any regrets now, I will not have regrets later on," he said.
The chef says the global attention the story has attracted is not exactly the kind of fame he was looking for. "I just want to work and maybe be famous for the things that I do and not for the things that I don't do," he said.
The case has reignited a long-running debate about where culinary tradition ends and customer service begins, particularly in multicultural cities like Brisbane where Italian-inspired restaurants routinely adapt menus to local tastes. For Tamburella, that line sits squarely between the pizza base and a slice of pineapple.
