Italian Chef Sacked After Refusing to Put Pineapple on Pizza

For some people, pineapple on pizza is simply a matter of taste. But Italian chef Davide Tamburella considered the combination a violation of his country’s culinary traditions. That principle brought him into conflict with the management of a restaurant in Australia, and ultimately cost him his job.

Tamburella previously worked at La Costa restaurant in Brisbane. He was dismissed in May 2026 after management raised several complaints about his conduct at work, including his refusal to make ham-and-pineapple pizzas for guests at an event.

Tamburella then lodged an unfair-dismissal claim with the Fair Work Commission, the Australian body that handles employment disputes. In a ruling released on Tuesday (3 November 2026), the commission said Tamburella had refused to use pineapple as a pizza topping for cultural reasons.

“As an Italian, he considered adding pineapple to pizza an insult to his culture,” the ruling said, as quoted by BBC International on Friday (6 November 2026).

When instructed by management, Tamburella even said that he did not have to follow a supervisor’s direction if he considered it offensive to his culture. This was not the first time he had refused.

Court documents show that he had refused to put pineapple on pizza three times over the previous four years. On an earlier occasion, he had also asked his supervisor to find out how important it was to Italians not to add pineapple to pizza.

But the restaurant where Tamburella worked was in Queensland, known as the centre of Australia’s pineapple production. Queensland produces all the pineapples commercially grown in the country.

The Sunshine Coast is also home to a well-known tourist attraction, The Big Pineapple: a 16-metre fibreglass pineapple replica that has been listed as a heritage building.

Not just a pizza-topping dispute

Although the refusal to use pineapple was one issue, the restaurant said several other problems had contributed to Tamburella’s dismissal. Management had previously raised concerns about his use of foul language, his communication style and mounting frustration in the workplace.

The ruling documents also describe an incident in April 2026 in which Tamburella hit a metal stair rail, fracturing a bone in his right hand. He was dismissed two weeks after a meeting with management to discuss the complaints.

The dismissal also affected Tamburella’s plans to settle in Australia. He had hoped that the restaurant would sponsor a skilled-worker visa, which could have paved the way to permanent residency.

After his employment ended, however, the restaurant stopped the visa-sponsorship process. Tamburella then filed his unfair-dismissal claim with the Fair Work Commission.

His claim was rejected because it was lodged after the deadline. The commission therefore dismissed it on the basis of the late filing, rather than ruling on whether his dismissal was fair.

La Costa managing director Elliot Ingram told the Daily Mail that the dispute was far more complicated than a pizza topping.

“There is more to this story than just a pizza topping,” he said.

The BBC contacted Tamburella for comment. On his LinkedIn profile, he describes himself as a chef whose career has focused on serving high-quality food and improving business performance.

About three months earlier, he had also published a post entitled “A Letter to Chefs”, on the subject of respecting ingredients. Tamburella is now known to be working at another restaurant in Brisbane.

The BBC found that his new restaurant does not list pineapple on its menu. La Costa, where he previously worked, has since closed.