The History of Hawaiian Pizza: How Sam Panopoulos Created the World's Most Polarizing Dish

In 1962, a Greek immigrant named Sam Panopoulos decided to crack open a can of pineapple at the Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ontario. He wasn't trying to start a global food war; he was just bored.

​In this episode, we dive into the sticky, sweet, and salty history of how a simple experiment in the kitchen of a small restaurant in a small Canadian town, created the most polarizing pizza in history.

And

We also have exciting news thanks to Potters Confectioners of Great Yarmouth 

https://pottersconfectioners.co.uk/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:07

Honourable mentions. Hello, listener. You're looking rather good today. I like what you've done with your hair. Wow. Are you ready? Because this is going to be good today, and I'm yet to introduce him. Hello, Neil. Good day. Good day to you, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Good day to you, Steven.

SPEAKER_05 0:31

I've got some exciting news for you, young man.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Ooh. Go on there.

SPEAKER_05 0:35

Are you sitting comfortably?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 0:37

This episode of Honourable Mentions. In fact, no, tell you what, let's do this properly with the heft and gravitas. It deserves what I've done, Neil, as a surprise. I've got you, an actor that I know you respect. This is someone who's got the heft and gravitas to make this announcement on behalf of Honourable mentions. And it's still me, because you know, you're not gonna find anyone better for this, are you? So I'm just warming up myself here. Right, you ready?

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Um yeah, a bit disturbed, but ready.

SPEAKER_05 1:21

This episode of Honourable Mentions has been sponsored by Potter's Confectioners of Great Yarmouth. Potter's Confectioners are a family business established in 1935, currently in the fifth generation. Lovely. They are specialists in manufacturing hard rock, sweets, fudge, and chocolate.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Mm.

SPEAKER_05 1:46

And they also supply a large variety of at the confectionery including shortbread, gift boxes, and Go on. Quality nougar. Yes. Sourced from a small local manufacturer. You can visit them in store in Great Yarmouth or online at PottersConfectioners.co.uk. That's Potter's Confectioners, or one word.co.uk.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Well, that's where I'm gonna be heading.

SPEAKER_05 2:17

Not ten minutes from this cinema. So yes, Potter's Potter's Confectioners.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 2:24

Thank you very much, Potters Confectioners. Again say thank you to the nice people there, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Yeah, I would do say thank you very much to the people there, Potters Confectioners.

SPEAKER_05 2:32

Of Great Yarmouth.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Of Great Yarmouth.

SPEAKER_05 2:34

At PottersConfectioners.co.uk.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

Great Yarmouth. Pottersconfectioners.co.uk at Great Yarmouth.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

I'm gonna go on those website soon and look at their nougar.

SPEAKER_05 2:48

Manufacturers of quality chocolates.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Oh my god. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:52

And also retailers of your best nougar.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Nice. Lovely. And also, Neil. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:03

Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Hello, Stephen.

SPEAKER_05 3:05

Also, we've been sent a couple of nougar recipes.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

No.

SPEAKER_05 3:11

One for nougar with chocolate malt, as in like you get in your Milky Way bars. Oh. From someone called Grey is the new BNW, as in Black and White BNW, who's over on Reddit. And also on Reddit, our new friend Jack in Germany has sent the nougar recipe too. Lovely. We'll either copy them into the show notes or post them upon our Facebook pages.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

I think post them upon our Facebook pages and send them to me, please. Because that's a good Potter's Confectioners of Great Yarmouth to buy my nougar, and I shall look at their recipes.

SPEAKER_05 3:51

I think everybody listening should go to Potters Confectioners of Great Yarmouth.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah, online if they can't go to the Great Yarmouth themselves.

SPEAKER_05 3:58

Well, I think so too, yes, and seek out their gift boxes. And nougar.

unknown 4:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:05

So Neil, shall we crack on with today's story? Now you've finished your salivating, you're still salivating or you're ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Oh no, that's that stopped.

SPEAKER_05 4:16

Uh okay. So let's settle down now, shall we, and begin today's story.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_05 4:22

Vuvura.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Okay. That's one of them annoying bloody things at the World Cup, wasn't it? And it kept blowing.

SPEAKER_05 4:29

No, that's a Vuvazela.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:32

Vuvura is a small village of no more than two hundred people settled in the northwestern part of the Pannon Mountains.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

That's New Zealand.

SPEAKER_05 4:42

One thousand metres or three thousand two hundred and eighty feet above sea level.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Am I right? It's New Zealand?

SPEAKER_05 4:50

In mainland Greece.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Oh, okay. Close in. It sounded New Zealandish.

SPEAKER_05 4:54

You were quite close, weren't you?

SPEAKER_01 4:56

New Zealand. Fox and chops.

SPEAKER_05 4:59

Well, you'd be better off talking about Greece because Greece is that much closer to the Arabian nations, which is where Newgart originated. But we're not going to be talking about Newgart in this, although it might be food related. White walled and red roofed cottages nestle amid rocky outcrops, and the shady respite of fir trees, chestnut pine and walnut trees.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Nice.

SPEAKER_05 5:26

Summer days are long and hot with unblemished blue skies. And the sounds of chirping insects. But in winter the temperatures turn cold and the skies are dull and wet. I think we can familiarise ourselves with that one.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

You certainly can with dull and wet.

SPEAKER_05 5:47

Yes. Is that a personal dig or is that about the general weather?

SPEAKER_01 5:52

No, that's a personal dig, Stephen.

SPEAKER_05 5:53

Okay. Well, that settle there. Here, Vasilios and Georgia Panupulos tranquil life in the early part of the twentieth century.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Did they?

SPEAKER_05 6:13

Yes. I may be mangling these, not being of Greek origin myself.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

No. Panupoulos.

SPEAKER_05 6:20

Panupulos.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:22

So then Vasilios fitted horseshoes and made saddles. Presumably onto horses and donkeys.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

I would have thought so. Not onto hamsters, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 6:37

Hamsters. He could have made really tiny ones. Yeah. But they wouldn't be horseshoes, would they? They'd be hamster shoes.

SPEAKER_06 6:44

What do you reckon a hamster shoe would look like? Like a little pair of night air Nikes. With big tongs.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

So he was off doing this while Georgia kept their home and raised their five children.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Oh done Georgia.

SPEAKER_05 7:01

One of those five, Satorus Panopoulus.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Satorus Panopoulus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:09

Panopulus Los Elois. Known as Sam, which is good for us 'cause that's a lot easier to say.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Definitely.

SPEAKER_05 7:17

It was born into the family on the twentieth of August 1934.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

1934, okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:27

Yeah, so that's just gone half past seven. It's very precise, isn't it? The timekeeping. Because of their rural location, we do not have documentation to show whether Sam was the eldest, middle, or youngest, but we know he at least had two brothers and a sister.

unknown 7:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:46

Growing up, Sam dreamed of becoming a dentist. Like we all have, I'm sure. Because he was probably a sadist and like hurting people. However, after Greece was liberated from Nazi occupation in nineteen forty-four, the country was plunged into more chaos, which led to a fierce power struggle between communist and government forces. Frying pan and fire spring to mind there.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 8:19

Vivura was engulfed by the Greek Civil War, and Sam's young and idyllic life was turned upside down as between the ages of twelve and fifteen, he was enlisted to help deliver medicine to treat wartime patients. Imagine that. You're only twelve.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Yeah. And got a push bike.

SPEAKER_05 8:40

Back on. That's a hell of a responsibility though, isn't it, really?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

I don't trust anyone from there to deliver drugs, they probably said it.

SPEAKER_05 8:46

And in the middle of a war. During the war, yeah. They probably would. They'd probably turn up with a bag full of smack. Yeah. Fast forward, Neil, please. Thank you. We're now in 1954. Three of the Panapoulas brothers, Elias, Nikitas, and a 20-year-old Sam, all left Greece and emigrated by boat to Canada.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

By boat. It's a long old journey.

SPEAKER_05 9:18

They left separately, so they didn't all go together, they left each other.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Oh, they were in boat during the year.

SPEAKER_05 9:24

They probably had a long rope, so one of them rode all the way to Canada and then the other one pulled it back in.

unknown 9:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:29

And then set off themselves.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:31

That would make sense as to why they went individually, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_03 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:34

I think we cracked that one now.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:38

Sam was the last to go and left with very little in the way of possessions. But while on the way, he stopped off at Naples, Italy, to sample the legendary local cuisine.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

What was that? Well, it's ice cream.

SPEAKER_05 9:55

That's one of 'em.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Is it?

SPEAKER_05 9:57

Yeah. Pizza. Is it that's Naples? That's from Naples originally. There's all sorts of things. You've never been, have you? Guess what, Neil?

SPEAKER_01 10:04

No, I've gone.

SPEAKER_05 10:06

I've been to Naples.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Kalang!

SPEAKER_05 10:09

And yes, the food is exquisite.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

Exquisite?

SPEAKER_05 10:16

Yes. It is really nice, but I'd have to say, possibly not as exquisite as the stock available to purchase from Potter's Confectioners of Great Yanmouth.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

I wouldn't have thought so, no. No, definitely not.

SPEAKER_05 10:31

No. Maybe you should look them up Neil.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

I'm going to.

SPEAKER_05 10:34

Where would you go to look them up online?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

I'd go to PottersConfectioners.co.uk.

SPEAKER_05 10:40

Oh, okay. I might do that after we've finished our little uh teta tate.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Tete Tate?

unknown 10:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Taters.

SPEAKER_05 10:48

After leaving Naples, Sam didn't stop again until his ship dopped in Halifax.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

That's close to Canada, isn't it? Halifax.

SPEAKER_05 10:59

Halifax, Nova Scotia.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Oh, say you can't get a ship dumped to Halifax.

SPEAKER_05 11:04

To Halifax. Oh. Oh that's looking thraud.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Can't get a bloody ship up, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:11

From where? He settled in Ontario, which is also in Canada, so that's a coincidence, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

I've heard of that, yes.

SPEAKER_05 11:17

Working in the nickel and copper mines of Sudbury and the uranium mines of Elliott Lake. Sudbury. Sounds healthy, doesn't it? By the early 1960s, Sam had moved again, this time further south to the city of Chatham, across Lake St. Clair, east of Detroit, which has a population at the time of around 31,000 of your people.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Are you sure you're talking about Canada?

SPEAKER_05 11:45

I am talking about Canada.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Because you've got Sudbury, Halifax, Chatham. What's going on there?

SPEAKER_05 11:51

Here they are. They'll be needing names for these places. What name shall we give them? Someone said Chattanooga or Massachusetts, and we said, no, no, no, no, no. Proper names. Names from Blight. So we gave them the names, didn't we?

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Chatham.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

Yeah. That's in Kent, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

It is, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:10

Chatham's in Kent. Uh east east of Detroit, which is in the United of States.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:16

But Chatham was very much still in Canada. That's just the way the geography works.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

It is, where the boundaries lie.

SPEAKER_05 12:25

Where the boundaries lie, by done now.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 12:28

In 1962.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:33

In 1962, the year Marilyn Monroe died, and the Beatles released their first single, which was You had a submarine.

SPEAKER_06 12:44

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Love Love Me Do.

SPEAKER_06 12:47

Yes. Was it? Yeah, Love Me Do.

SPEAKER_05 12:52

I'd rather not. No, I'd rather not. Thank you very much for asking though. Sam and his brothers Nick and Ellias started to run a dining lounge in downtown Chatham. Their restaurant was called Satellite.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Oh. Is that because they served Greek food and it was like a satellite branch from their home routes?

SPEAKER_05 13:18

Well, that's a very good guess. It's thought that they called it satellite as a nod to the burgeoning space age and the launch of the Telstar satellite in July of that year. But yours is also a very good guess.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Telstar was a record company, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_05 13:35

Telstar, of course, was a huge hit for in 1962.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

1962. Oh, let me have a guess. Bernie Clifton.

SPEAKER_04 13:49

The Shadows. Robert Boyles.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

What was that? Bobby Crush, the piano player.

SPEAKER_05 14:00

The tornadoes.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 14:03

Jim Meek and all that.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:06

The restaurant was set up after some renovations in a building that previously housed a railway ticket office and a travel agency.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Ooh. Thomas Cook.

SPEAKER_05 14:18

Speaking of which?

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:20

Who had a big 1961-62 hit with the song The Wanderer?

SPEAKER_01 14:27

The Wanderer.

SPEAKER_05 14:28

Well the type of guy who likes the world.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Status quo.

SPEAKER_05 14:33

In 1961-62, who had a big hit with the song The Wanderer and your same status quo?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Yeah. Tom Jones. Dion. Tom Dion.

SPEAKER_05 14:42

No, just Dion. He's ripping off his shirt and showing a rosy on his chest. Dion Quo 1961-62. No, just Dion.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:51

Dion Dublin.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Hmm.

SPEAKER_05 14:54

For a foreign listener. Dion Dublin was a former professional footballer and is now a TV presenter on Holmes Under the Hammer. That's Holmes Under the Hammer. And now back to today's broadcast. Anyway, Neil, stop asking so many questions, please. This isn't a pub quiz.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Someone's tired.

SPEAKER_05 15:15

The main dining area of the satellite could sit sixty people, six zero, while a private banquet hall could welcome a further forty-five people.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

It's not a very big banquet hall, is it?

SPEAKER_05 15:31

No. But it'll do for three brothers who arrived in the country with next to now, won't it?

SPEAKER_01 15:37

I suppose. If you had forty-five people wanted a banquet.

SPEAKER_05 15:41

And perhaps they did. Precisely. They didn't have forty-four or forty-six people, they had forty-five. Yeah. Satellites serve traditional American favourites like boygers, boygers and fries, as well as all day breakfast with eggs over easy, pancakes, maple syrup, waffles, and lots of coffee.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

That's not breakfast.

SPEAKER_05 16:03

That's not breakfast, is it, Americans?

SPEAKER_01 16:06

What's going on with them?

SPEAKER_05 16:07

Americans wouldn't know a breakfast that came up and slapped him in its waffly face, would it? They also made pizza, which has seen an explosion in popularity since the Second World War, with troops returning from Europe and particularly Italy. Which, by the way, as we've already discussed, is somewhere what it is where Sam visited, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yeah, it's Naples.

SPEAKER_05 16:29

You want to what? Show me your what?

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Don't worry about that. I said about Naples.

SPEAKER_05 16:33

Oh, they are a bit crusty around the edges, aren't they? You want some cream for that? The Canadian pizza topped with bacon strips and cheddar cheese was a particularly popular treat.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

So it's like a glamorous cheese on toast.

SPEAKER_05 16:47

Yeah, sounds like it, doesn't it? Eventually the brothers started experimenting with food trends like Americanized versions of Chinese dishes.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

What?

SPEAKER_05 16:59

And business was brisk.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

And you do an Americanized version of a Chinese dish.

SPEAKER_05 17:04

Well, what we eat in this country is really a westernized version of Chinese food. If you went to China, you'd struggle to find it.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Unless you go to a Chinese restaurant.

SPEAKER_05 17:15

You'd struggle to find similar Yeah, they eat chicken's feet and they'd eat pigs' feet and Exactly. We don't really eat that sort of thing, so that's why we don't stand them in Chinese restaurants. So when we say Americanized versions of Chinese dishes, that's the kind of thing like sticky spare ribs and chicken chat meaning and that's it could mean the size of the dish is a lot bigger. Because of your Americans.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:39

What you're insinuating there, please, Neil, for our American listeners.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

They eat a lot.

SPEAKER_05 17:44

If you'd like to write in to complain, American listener, you can contact us on Honorable Menginespod at gmail.com or any of your social medias apart from X. And his name is Neil. His name is Neil, by the way. Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Push your burger wrappers out of the way and try and get your keyboard. Go on, crack on.

SPEAKER_05 18:07

In the early sixties, people were conservative in their tastes when compared to today, and there wasn't much of a call for spicy or wildly exotic foods.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Wildly exotic, not kiwi fruit.

SPEAKER_05 18:20

Kiwi fruit. There's a story behind kiwi fruit.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Let's not go there.

SPEAKER_05 18:23

It wasn't originally called kiwi fruit, it was called the Chinese plum, I think it was called. And then because it didn't sell, because communism and China and that sort of stuff, someone from New Zealand who had a load of it decided to call it kiwi fruit and sent out exactly the same stuff but under a different name and it took off.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

It's a similar story to a banana.

SPEAKER_05 18:46

That's why today it's called Kiwi Fruit.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah, similar story to banana.

SPEAKER_05 18:50

Is it? What's your banana story, please? And it's better not involved pajamas coming down the stairs.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Okay, we'll leave that.

SPEAKER_05 18:57

We'll leave that one there, shall we?

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Yeah. Bananas trees walk.

SPEAKER_05 19:00

Yes, they do. That's that's a true fat listener. Would you like to expand on that for the listener?

SPEAKER_01 19:06

They they can move in the span of their lifetime about two feet across. They they move their roots. Move and it moves a tree.

SPEAKER_05 19:14

Yes, that's true. They die away. They die away and their roots underground grow again at a distance from where they originally grew up, and it appears to have to have walked during its lifetime. There you go. Where were we, please, Neil, because I've lost the will.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

The Chinese dishes.

SPEAKER_05 19:34

Yes. In the early 60s, people were conservative in their tastes. Well, we know that's true, don't we? And there wasn't much call for spicy or wild but exotic foods. Although Sam had noticed that satellite's customers were more accepting of the sweet and sour flavours in their Chinese cuisine.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Sweet and sour pineapple and stuff, in it.

SPEAKER_05 19:53

Sweet and sour pork and sweet and sour chicken and such and such.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Not sweet and sour beef, though, do they?

SPEAKER_05 19:59

No, they don't really have that, do they? This observation of Sam's resulted in one of the worst atrocities ever inflicted on the human race by one single person. Other than the Canadian, pizzas at the time featured a choice of traditional toppings such as salami, pepperoni, mushrooms, and olives.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:21

But Sam had the idea to create a sweet and sour pizza. At first, his customers did not like it and told him he was crazy. And of course, they were spot on. Bang on. They were bang on. And then slowly and probably with the help of some dark magic, it began to catch on until Sam's pizza became the star of the restaurant's menu and the talk of the whole town.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Yes, I think it did.

SPEAKER_05 20:52

Did he lace it with crack or something? We don't know, but however he did it, people just kept coming back for more. Sam's creation was a traditional tomato and cheese pizza topping with added ham.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:07

And then he brought to life his abomination by bunging on chunks of Pineapple. Dog it. Um pineapple. Chunks of pineapple. He called this heinous outrage the Hawaiian after the brand of canned pineapple that used.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

I'm sorry, but when you go to parties and we were kids and stuff like that, and we used to have chopped rolls and stuff, did didn't they always have pineapple and cheese on the stick?

SPEAKER_05 21:40

I know, no, I was never invited to parties.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Oh whatever. And were they the most popular part of the party food? Yes. And there's a reason for it because it's a good combination.

SPEAKER_05 21:51

Is Heanus outraged the Hawaiian pizza after the brand of canned pineapples he used? You didn't have Hawaiian. Sticks. Someone might have choked a bit of cheddar and pineapple on the same stick.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yeah, and it's nice. No, it's not. It sticks. You're a pickled onion man, aren't you? Pickled onion and cheese, that's disgusting.

SPEAKER_05 22:10

I do like pickled onions. No, it's not. I'd rather like a good strong pickled onion that makes your eyeballs spin to the back of your head.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Yeah. What's the point?

SPEAKER_05 22:19

Because they make your eyeballs spin in the back of your head. Yeah, what's the point? Oh nice and crunchy. Main cells. But it's been high.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Your internals.

SPEAKER_05 22:29

You're calling me some sort of terrorist.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yeah, what's it got inside? What's it done to your internals? All that vinegar and thank you.

SPEAKER_05 22:38

Anyway, Sam was such a business genius he didn't register for a trademark or paint his popular pizza, claiming that it never crossed his mind it was just another piece of bread cooking in the oven, he said.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Yeah, well it is, isn't it?

SPEAKER_05 22:52

Sadlight went on serving the Hawaiian and other favourites into its tenth year, but then a string of arson attacks targeted the restaurant and adjacent businesses. Why? Probably the Pizza Liberation Front.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Chicago Town or someone.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

Very good people with enough decency and taste to know that pineapple has no place on a pizza.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Yeah, whatever. Listener, let's have a let's have a a vote on this, please. If you prefer Pineapple on the Pizza, please let us know at honorable mentionspollygmail.com. If you don't prefer um pineapple on the pizza, just shut up.

SPEAKER_05 23:27

In April 1972, more than five fires were set at commercial buildings in downtown Chatham. But in all cases, firemen were able to respond quickly enough and prevent any serious damage.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_05 23:51

Do you reckon that the fireman Sam and his other fireman colleagues came out dripping with stretchy mozzarella cheese?

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

A slice of pepperoni sliding down the helmet.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Beg your pardon?

SPEAKER_05 24:03

You steady. Leave that one there, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

That'll be sore.

SPEAKER_05 24:07

Despite these burny little setbacks, by the end of the 70s, business continued to thrive for the brothers and the home of the Hawaiian pizza.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 24:17

They opened another restaurant in the city, first called Satellite Drive In. It was later renamed as Alberto's Tavern.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Close?

SPEAKER_05 24:27

Yeah, it was a complete rechange, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Satellite Drive In. Well, Berto's Tavern. Let's change it.

SPEAKER_05 24:34

In 1976, Satellite's original downtown location and the place Sam created, the Hawaiian, was sold to another Greek family who kept the pineapple pizza pie, the popular pineapple pizza pie, on the menu.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Just got to clean the face off, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 24:53

Instead, the Panopoulus family focused their attention on the newer and larger Alberto's tavern. I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

I've said that twice over.

SPEAKER_05 25:08

You might want to fetch on wet wipes before we continue, shall we wait?

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Yeah, I've just got to ring my microphone now.

SPEAKER_05 25:15

In 1977, they added 70 more seats to its existing 250.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 25:23

So by my math, that gave them 310 30 36 and three quarter seats. The additional wing, which was next to their pizza takeout place, was called the Family Circle Restaurant. Now over here in your UK, listener, Family Circle is very much associated with biscuits, or as you would call them in the States there, cookies. Is it? Family Circle. Yeah, they're calling that red tin, don't they? You get at Christmas, the red box of biscuits.

SPEAKER_03 26:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 26:01

In 1980, the brothers decided to sell Alberto's as a going concern to their former cook from satellite for half a million dollars. Which today is just a little short of two million. Right. Well, it is, I don't know what they pay a Greek fast food cook back in the 70s, but he weren't doing too bad, was he?

SPEAKER_01 26:24

If you couldn't do bad, I took mind you if he was cooking the Hawaiian pizzas, which is one of the best pizzas out there. It was um nothing.

SPEAKER_05 26:32

Anyhow, the sale wasn't bad for three Greek lads from a rural village who'd arrived in Canada with nothing.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:41

In the nineteen eighties, Sam, who was in a long and happy marriage with two children.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Oh well. What about his wife?

SPEAKER_05 26:48

That means he was married to an adult and they had two kids between them.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Oh, I hope so. Yeah, it wasn't married to two little children.

SPEAKER_05 26:55

Could be a little problematic for the rest of the story, couldn't it? Yes, absolutely. Sam was in a long and happy marriage and moved to the family to London, Ontario. Once again, we've we've given them another name, haven't we? Yeah. Yeah. There he revived the Family Circle Restaurant, which became a beloved downtown landmark. It ran for almost three decades, around 30 years, isn't it? By my maths. And after fifty years in the restaurant business, he retired in 2007, selling up to another Greek management company.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:36

Sadly, on the 8th of June 2017, Sam died suddenly at the age of 82.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_05 27:45

Hundreds of people gathered for his funeral.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Did they? Well them for free pizza.

SPEAKER_05 27:51

Most of them open to claim the money back from the funeral directors if he was delivered late.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_05 27:56

Posthumously, in honor of Sam's legacy, the twentieth of August, which if you remember, was his birthday.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Don't remember that, but carry on.

SPEAKER_05 28:06

Is observed yearly as International Hawaiian Pizza Day. What a waste of what a waste of a day. What should we call this one? I don't know, Hawaiian Pizza Day.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

It's not a waste of a day.

SPEAKER_05 28:28

Well no, Barbecue Chicken Day.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Well no, because they're just boring bog standard pizzas. This guy was a as a he was a visionary. It changed the palate of a human being.

SPEAKER_05 28:40

Well, Neil, since 1962, Hawaiian pizza has grown in popularity across Canada and internationally and paved the way for more novel flavour combinations, which is really what you were saying.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Yeah, exactly. See? I've had a duck hoisting pizza.

SPEAKER_05 28:57

Wang you dropping your pizza references.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Pizza references something you can go at the supermarket and buy. It's not getting on a plane and going somewhere and saying, oh, by the way, I've been to Australia, who noticed.

SPEAKER_05 29:09

I was waiting for you to say, actually.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Alright, well done. Actually, there you go.

SPEAKER_05 29:14

Well done, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_05 29:16

I was also waiting for you to tell me that you've been to Canada.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

I have been to Canada.

SPEAKER_05 29:20

See, I haven't.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

I have. I went to Vancouver.

SPEAKER_05 29:24

You could have done your own clang.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

And I went to Niagara Falls.

SPEAKER_05 29:28

Although I do have a niece who is resident in Canada. Hello, Jenny. And uh she is not bothered to invite us over.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

I had some sweet dessert wine as well. Ice wine. That was nice.

SPEAKER_06 29:44

Good.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_06 29:45

Can I carry on?

SPEAKER_01 29:47

No.

SPEAKER_06 29:48

How about now?

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Yeah. Just finished my listening.

SPEAKER_05 29:51

You can get everything now from buffalo chicken pizza to blue cheese to tuna fish to meatballs, all thanks to Sam pushing the boundaries.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

It's a tuna fish.

SPEAKER_05 30:01

Buffalo chicken. I didn't realise this is this is true. You might laugh. I didn't realise until fairly recently that buffalo chicken is so called because the sauce was invented in Buffalo, United States of America. Not that it was a particular sort of type of chunky chicken.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

So you think it was a big chicken?

SPEAKER_05 30:22

Yeah that's true.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Like the one from Looney Tunes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:28

That one that fights with Peter Griffin on Family Guy. That sort of thing.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

You thought that was that sort of chicken.

SPEAKER_05 30:35

Yeah. I know. But there we go, you learn something new every day. So Neil. Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Hello.

SPEAKER_05 30:43

Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

I should said hello.

SPEAKER_05 30:46

Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Crack on.

SPEAKER_05 30:49

As we're sponsored today by Potter's Confectioners of Great Yarmouth, who don't make or sell pizza but do sell the most delicious hard rock sweets.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 30:58

Fudge, chocolate, and of course they retail sweet, sweet, scrummy, chewy nougar.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Hell yeah, baby.

SPEAKER_05 31:05

And if you don't live in or around Great Yarmouth, how would you manage to get hold of Potter's Confectioners.co.uk.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

Yeah, we look at that, definitely.

SPEAKER_05 31:16

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

I will talk about Tonis' podcast to be real, because I want to get some nougarts.

SPEAKER_05 31:20

But before we do, I thought I'd throw out some pizza facts. I'm going to throw some pizza facts at you. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Actually physically throw them at you though, please.

SPEAKER_05 31:28

Okay. I'll tell you what though, before I do, I wonder if anyone's ever thought of a cheese tomato and nougar pizza.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

I thought they can do sweet pizzas now, don't they? They're chocolate and light rubbish on it.

SPEAKER_05 31:41

There you go. Potter's Confectioners. Great Yarmouth, you can have that one. We'll give you that one for free. So, Neil. Hello, Neil. Hello. What is the world's favourite pizza topping, please? And by pizza topping, I don't mean like Hawaiian or I don't know, or sloppy joe, or whatever. I've said that one already. I don't mean that.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Pepperoni.

SPEAKER_05 32:06

Yes. Pepperoni is the world's favourite pizza topping.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:12

And of the regularly available pizza toppings, what's the world's least favourite?

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Olives.

SPEAKER_06 32:21

No.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Angi vies.

SPEAKER_06 32:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Hairy fish. Disgusting things. The hell looked at that and thought, well, I might give that a try. I'll give it a eight eat one of them. Your pizza knowledge is is very good. I'm very up there with pizza knowledges.

SPEAKER_05 32:36

Despite its horrendousness, Hawaiian pizza is rather here nor there in the world's favourite thing.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Shall we just uh react to that, please?

SPEAKER_05 32:48

With the exception of one country where it is the best sold pizza.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Hawaiian country is Germany.

SPEAKER_06 32:58

No.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Uh China.

SPEAKER_06 33:00

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Uh Iceland.

SPEAKER_06 33:04

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

So you have lots of pizzas there, don't they? And other things.

SPEAKER_05 33:08

Yeah, Mum has gone to Iceland, but she's got Hawaiian pizza.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Okay. Um Canada.

SPEAKER_06 33:14

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Mexico.

SPEAKER_06 33:17

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

America.

SPEAKER_06 33:20

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

England.

unknown 33:22

No.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Great Britain. How long can we keep this going for before the listener starts to They're probably shouting at the the music box?

SPEAKER_05 33:30

Music box? Hold on. Here is a box, a musical box, wound up and ready to play. Yeah. Would you like, Neil, to have one more guess?

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Australia.

SPEAKER_05 33:43

Correct. Yes. It's the number one selling pizza type in Australia, which accounts for 1515% of all sales.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Because people in Australia have got taste.

SPEAKER_05 33:55

In the UK in 2024. Which might's nice.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Whatever.

SPEAKER_05 34:01

A UGOV poll from Match 2024 showed that over 50% of Brits loved or liked Hawaiian pizza.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:12

With 41% saying they actively disliked it. A 2017 poll found 47% of Americans approve of pineapple on pizza. Which is no judge of anything. And the 2021 online poll showed that 73% of Canadians would definitely or probably eat pineapple on a pizza. But only 12% of people in general would put pineapple in their favourite three pizza toppings. And pineapple does feature in the three global least favourite pizza toppings.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

That doesn't.

SPEAKER_05 34:55

Does so?

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Doesn't.

SPEAKER_05 34:56

Does so.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

However.

SPEAKER_05 34:59

Regardless, Sam's Hawaiian is now a staple on pizza menus all over the world.

unknown 35:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

So they wouldn't put it on there if they didn't set it, would they?

SPEAKER_06 35:08

No.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

There you go. So it's popular.

SPEAKER_06 35:12

Or, listener, is it Sam's Hawaiian?

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Say what?

SPEAKER_05 35:18

Some suggest that Toast Hawaii, which was melted cheese, ham and pineapple on an open-faced sandwich, was a precursor to Hawaiian pizza, popularized in Germany, which is one of your guesses.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:33

By a TV cook in the nineteen fifties called Clemens Vilmannrod.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

Sounds like a sex toy.

SPEAKER_05 35:40

A small pizza chain named Pizza Bobs from Anne Arbour in Michigan claims it is the creator for Hawaiian pizza, but they didn't advertise it until 1971. So Sam was well in before that.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Yeah, that's too, isn't it? And they're thinking, well, this is popular. Well, we've not advertised it like this.

SPEAKER_05 35:57

Yeah, well, you say they were saying they were making it before then, but never bothered to tell anybody. Yeah. Finally, the last bit about Sam's legacy. To close us out here. In the year of Sam's death, Hawaiian pizza became the centre of an international diplomatic incident.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Ooh. So did um the I don't know, Lionel Blair choke on a piece?

SPEAKER_05 36:23

The then president of Iceland, and by Iceland, I don't mean the budget freezer supermarket chain that took over from B jams in the UK. I mean the nation of Iceland. The president of Iceland stated that he was, and I quote, and I quote fundamentally opposed.

SPEAKER_06 36:52

How was that?

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Rubbish.

SPEAKER_06 36:55

Was it?

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Sorry.

SPEAKER_06 37:01

Fundamentally opposed.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

That sounds better.

SPEAKER_06 37:04

Does it?

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:06

Okay, what sort of emotion do you want in there?

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Oh you just did it.

SPEAKER_05 37:10

Did I? Nailed it then. He was fundamentally opposed to pineapple on pizza. He went as far as declaring that he would ban the fruit as a pizza topping if given the power to do so. His remarks drew reactions internationally. It did. Although you can go to some Naples restaurant and they will actually eject you from the premises if you ask for pineapple on your pizza. And that's a fact as well. So his remarks drew reactions internationally, and then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, you may have heard of him, weighed in on the debate, saying that he stands by the delicious Southwestern Ontario creation.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Yeah. Rather than Justin.

SPEAKER_05 37:54

Whatever diplomacy went on behind the scenes, Iceland still to this day sells Hawaiian pizzas.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:02

Both as a nation and as a frozen goods budget supermarket chain.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Yeah, but what good bit of publicity that would do for it, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_05 38:10

What's that, please?

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Well, people ate it out of rebellion.

SPEAKER_05 38:13

Would they?

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 38:15

It's not Star Wars.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Not everything relates to Star Wars, Stephen.

SPEAKER_05 38:18

Well, the rebellion. I don't see them going around eating Hawaiian pizzas.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

You didn't see what was happening behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_05 38:25

I just think they are. Okay. Well, thank you, listener. That's the story of our friend Sam Panopoulos.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

Panopoulus.

SPEAKER_05 38:37

Whether I have wrecked his name, I don't know, and I do apologize if I have, but let's just call him Sam. And his invention of the Hawaiian pizza.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

Uncle Sam.

SPEAKER_05 38:50

I'd just like to close out, Neil. You've got anything you'd like to say?

SPEAKER_01 38:54

I'm going to go online to Pottersconfectioners.co.uk and get myself some delicious nougar, and also look about what other things I have.

SPEAKER_05 39:04

And how would you be paying for this and have it transported to you?

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Oh, hopefully they'll do a deliverer.

SPEAKER_05 39:11

They will, yes. And they'll take online payments as well.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Oh yeah. Perfect. And also I should take a look at those two chaps who sent in the nougat recipes.

SPEAKER_05 39:22

Yes, the nougard recipes. We'll put them on our Facebook page for you, dear listener. So you can also go and have a look there, how to make your own nougar, as in the type you get in Milky Way, or as in a German type nougar, presumably, that we've been sent in from there as well.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

So I'm going to try and put some on the pizza as well and see what happens.

SPEAKER_05 39:44

Today's great debate is pineapples on pizza or not pineapples on pizza, are you team Neil? Are you team correct? Then um please let us know on honourable mentions pod at gmail.com or wherever you find us on social media, or you can even contact us directly through Spotify. And finally, if you have a family member, or someone in your ancestry, or someone who lived in your town or village or street, or someone you went to school with, or someone who went to your school, who achieved something extraordinary and worthy of an Honourable Mention Pineapple One Pizza, please. Just let us know, and you could find your story, or even yourself, featuring on a future episode of Honorable Mentions. We'd love to hear from you, and it'll be great to get some more guests aboard. Don't you think, Neil? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

I do think so, yes.

SPEAKER_05 40:46

Well, thank you, listener. Thank you. Hello, Neil.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Hello, Stephen.

SPEAKER_05 40:54

And thank you, Potter's Confectioners of Great Yarmouth.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

Yes. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 41:01

We will see you again next week for another exciting trip back through space and time with Honourable Mentions.

SPEAKER_06 41:10

I'd like to say goodbye.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

Oh no.

SPEAKER_06 41:16

Goodbye. It'll mean all sprightly.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Bye! Hello. I'm Gordon Ramsey, and it says here that I'm a great friend of the boys at honorable mentions. Whatever the fuck that is. I've been asked to say thank you for listening to today's story all about the invention of Hawaiian pizza. Really? That's what pizza is mistaken. Anyway, the only way we can make this podcast grow. Is that what it is? The only way we can make this podcast to grow is if you like subscribe and leave the five stars. If you don't come around there, you can go to the two.