After years of being like Switzerland, I’m finally jumping into the debate

I can fondly remember the very first time my folks took us to the recently opened Pizza restaurant in West Gosford, about 10k’s north of where I grew up in Umina. I think we were aged about 10 and 8 and golly, we were so excited. Christmas, Birthday and all the other holidays wrapped up into one. Pizza. My fave. Back in those days when my palate wasn’t very well developed it was just either plain ham pizza, or ground beef and onion. The smell of the place was just amazing to a young nose, and we felt like kings getting waited on and having the pizza delivered to our table, with a big jug of fizzy to wash it all down.

Nowadays, pizza is dime a dozen, although the ‘plain cheese’ pizza made a huge comeback when the little kid in Home Alone ordered one as a home delivery and used the video that said ‘keep the change ‘ya filthy animal’. Rarely will you see a boring ol’ pizza these days, with gourmet pizza and a healthy dose of a range ‘posh’ toppings all the rage. Pear and potato, eggplant with spinach and feta, roast pumpkin and chorizo, Atlantic salmon with lemon, garlic and cherry tomato, blue cheese and prawns, rare lamb with red onion and kale, or even banana and Nutella as a dessert pizza. You name it, it’s not only hip and happening to have something decadent on your pizza, it’s almost expected these days.

The pizza oven out next our barbeque got a massive workout over the Christmas period, with our cheesy Gorgonzola effort gaining fame and an admiring eating audience. After being chastised by our eldest for using prefabricated ‘purchased’ bases, we are now hand-kneading our dough from flour and yeast and we’ve just about got it right. My lovely wife is awesome in her preparation for our pizza nights … with endless little bowls of a million different ingredients and toppings on display for once the dough has risen and it’s the ‘make your own’ time comes around. Best thing about pizza night is that nobody can complain when it’s ‘make your own.’

Ok, to the main reason for this rambling. There was a survey was released last week saying that (believe it or not) pineapple wasn’t causing the biggest debates about a being a pizza topping. It was olives. The humble, yummy, delicious, can’t-live-without olive. Evidently there’s more people out there who hate olives on their pizza than pineapple. Olives – O.M.G. no issue from me, they’re a go-to on my Italian pie. Pineapple? I can take it or leave it, but I’m not a ‘hater’ if that’s the term. If it’s on the pizza I won’t pick it off, but if doing the make my own thing, then I’ll put it to one side or bypass it in favour of other gems. Included in my favourites are items like spicy chorizo, jalapeno’s, muscles, sweet corn, prawns (not all at once, mind you!), and of course olives. Cheese underneath and above the toppings is also a must. I used to be a thin crust kinda guy, but the Masterchefs putting our thicker crust dough together from scratch have seen me well and truly converted. Can’t say I’m really a fan of dessert pizza though.

Sorry, I guess I just sat on the fence regarding the pineapple thing, didn’t I? Ok, if there were two pizzas sitting in front of me, one with pineapple and one sans-pineapple, I’d more than likely pick the one without the pineapple. So, pineapple, that’s a ‘no’ from me.