A Brisbane restaurant’s Italian cook was fired after refusing to put pineapple on a pizza, citing it as a “insult to his culture”.
Two weeks after a meeting with management on a series of grievances regarding the chef’s conduct, Davide Tamburella was sacked from the now-closed La Costa restaurant in May.
Tamburella’s reluctance to provide ham and pineapple pizza to attendees at a party was one of them. The chef had declared at the time that he “need not be followed when it is offensive to his culture” in response to management orders.
Quick Fact
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| What Happened | Italian chef dismissed over pineapple pizza dispute |
| Location | Queensland, Australia |
| Person Involved | Chef Tamburella |
| Main Dispute | Refusal to put pineapple on pizzas |
| Reason | He considered pineapple on pizza an insult to Italian culture |
| Legal Outcome | Unfair dismissal claim rejected due to late filing |
| Visa Sponsorship | Restaurant ended the sponsorship process |
| Current Status | His LinkedIn profile lists another Brisbane restaurant as his workplace |
The information was made public after the chef filed a complaint with Australia’s Fair Work Commission alleging he had been wrongfully fired.
Tamburella refused to add pineapple on the pizzas because “he considers, as an Italian, that putting pineapple on a pizza is an insult to his culture,” according to the commission’s Tuesday verdict.
Additionally, it stated that Tamburella had declined to put the fruit on pizzas three times in the previous four years.
Pineapple Pizza Dispute Leads to Chef's Dismissal
All of Australia’s commercially farmed pineapples are grown in Queensland, the state where the restaurant is situated. Queensland is known as Australia’s pineapple heartland.
The Big Pineapple, a heritage-listed 16-meter-tall fiberglass sculpture of the fruit that has become a local icon on the Sunshine Coast, is a popular spot for tourists to snap pictures.
Tamburella’s use of profanity, his communication style, and the “escalation of frustration in the workplace” were among issues brought up.
The decision also described an incident that occurred at work in April of this year when Tamburella struck a metal hand rail, breaking bones in his right hand.
Chef Loses Case After Dismissal
Tamburella had hoped that the restaurant would sponsor a skilled worker’s permanent residency visa for him.
But the restaurant terminated that procedure after he was fired, the tribunal heard.
The court said that he lost his unjust dismissal claim since the application was filed too late.
Elliot Ingram, the managing director of the restaurant, said there was “more to this story than a pizza topping” in an interview with News.
