Italian chef Davide Tamburella lost his job at Brisbane’s La Costa restaurant in May after refusing to make ham-and-pineapple pizzas for a function.
The dismissal highlights a clash between traditional culinary values and Australian customer expectations.
Tamburella refused the order because he considered adding pineapple to a pizza to be “an insult to his culture.” He described himself on his LinkedIn profile as committed to “delivering exceptional food” and “improving business performance.” The Fair Work Commission heard that this was the third time in four years he had refused to put the fruit on a pizza.
He had asked his employers to “check how important it is for Italians not to put pineapple on a pizza.”
“At the end of the day, we’re not in Italy, we’re in Australia and we have to go with what the customers’ reasonable requests are,” Ingram said. Ingram said he did not mind the fruit personally. “We’re in Queensland after all – we’ve got the best pineapples in the world,” he said, though he added that he was “more of a pepperoni guy.”
Italian chef Davide Tamburella was fired from Brisbane’s La Costa Restaurant and Bar after refusing to put pineapple on pizza for customers — not once, but three times over four years. He considered the topping "an insult to his culture" and even asked his boss to look into how… pic.twitter.com/I3grMXmVpq
Global Headlines
The pizza topping appeared in the BBC, The Sun, The Times of London, and the New York Post. The restaurant maintained that the topping was not the sole reason for the dismissal.
Tamburella fractured two bones in his right hand after striking a metal handrail at work on April 24, 2026. He took his case to the Fair Work Commission and said the dismissal breached the Fair Work Act because it was connected to his workplace injury. Ingram said the injury, medical leave, and workers’ compensation claim did not influence the decision.
Commissioner Jennifer Hunt rejected the application because it was filed 28 days late, exceeding the statutory 21-day period. Hunt ruled there were no “exceptional circumstances” for an extension, because Tamburella had the capacity to engage with two different migration lawyers and use his mobile phone despite his pain and prescribed drugs.
Culinary Heritage
The Hawaiian pizza was invented in 1962 by Greek immigrant Sam Panopoulos in Canada, drawing on sweet-and-sour Chinese-American cooking. In 2017, a Bolognese chef named Maurizio Landi lost his job at a bistro close to Lyon after refusing to extend his pasta-cooking time and serve spaghetti bolognese.
Pizza chef Franco Pepe designed the “AnaNascosta” pizza cone with pineapple, San Daniele ham, and Grana Padano fondue. The pizzeria chain Berberè launched a pizza with a spiced pineapple sauce in London.
Tamburella told 7NEWS that he does not hate the fruit itself. “I love pineapple in general. I love pineapple. It’s so sweet,” he said. He said he was protecting his nonna’s dough recipe. “The flavour of the dough is really important and the flavour of the dough has to be respected,” he said.
🚨 NEWS ALERT 🇦🇺🇮🇹 An Italian chef in Brisbane was fired after repeatedly refusing to put PINEAPPLE on pizza, calling it an “insult to his culture.” Davide Tamburella acknowledged it was the THIRD time in four years he had refused the instruction and even told his boss to…
La Costa sat in Fortitude Valley, an area that became Brisbane’s original Little Italy after Australian and other Italian migrants settled there in the mid-20th century. The restaurant closed in July. He told 9News about the international attention. “Either way, I’m going to be judged, I’m going to be hated, loved. I will be hero,” he said.
More on Davide Tamburella
BREAKING: An Italian chef has been fired from a Brisbane restaurant after he refused to put pineapple on a pizza because it was an "insult to his culture". Davide Tamburella was fired from the now-closed La Costa restaurant in May, a fortnight after a meeting with management who…
Davide Tamburella, head chef at La Costa, an Italian restaurant in Queensland, Australia, refused to put the fruit on his pizzas, claiming it was “an insult to his culture”. Tap the read what happened when he took the case to a tribunal ⤵️https://t.co/AZm7D6mF7n pic.twitter.com/XnD4YVnkgw
