Arnold Zwicky's Blog

Today’s breakfast special at the Peninsula Creamery in Palo Alto was the Hawaiian Omelette, which I was canny enough to recognize as an omelette featuring pineapple (and ham). Just as the avocado is California’s iconic food — see postings here, here, and here — so the pineapple (often together with ham) is Hawaii’s.

A Hawaiian omelette:

(#1)

On to Hawaiian pizza, which has an interesting history. A pizza:

(#2)

From Wikipedia:

Hawaiian pizza is a pizza that usually consists of a cheese and tomato base with pieces of ham and pineapple. Often versions will have mixed peppers, mushrooms and bacon. Another variety consists of pineapple and Canadian bacon. It is the most popular pizza in Australia, accounting for 15% of pizza sales.
Despite its name, Hawaiian pizza is not a Hawaiian invention; it is Canadian. The Village Voice, National Post, Toronto Sun, London Free Press and The Chatham Daily News have covered Sam Panopoulos’ claim that he created the first Hawaiian pizza at the Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ontario, Canada in 1962. A co-owner of the Satellite Restaurant at that time – along with his brother, Nick Panopoulos – Sam and his brother were business partners for approximately 50 years. The brothers would later build on the popularity of the Hawaiian Pizza and begin serving their next creation – the Hawaiian Burger.

And then a Hawaiian burger:
(#3)

Big slice of pineapple.

Then the startling Hawaiian salad, with this recipe:

Mix together: 1 sm. can mandarin oranges, drained; 1 can chunk pineapple, drained; 1 c. colored miniature marshmallows; 1/2 c. Angel Flake shredded coconut; 1 c. cultured sour cream; Maraschino cherries for color

Sounds achingly sweet.

And the Hardee’s Hawaiian chicken sandwich, introduced in 2007. From the company’s website then:

It consists of a charbroiled chicken breast with a teriyaki sauce and a slice of grilled pineapple, swiss cheese, red onion, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise.

You can also find a Hawaiian grilled cheese sandwich (with pineapple and ham again), and Hawaiian kabobs of many sorts, all with pineapple on a stick.

This entry was posted on June 29, 2015 at 9:38 am and is filed under Language and food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.