大象传媒

Good morning.

I like Hawaiian pizza. There: I said it. I like the sweet top-note of pineapple against the faintly sour, tangy backdrop of tomato. I don鈥檛 like it so much that I鈥檇 pay 拢100 for the privilege of eating it, which is what one Norwich restaurant is now charging for the so-called 鈥渢ropical menace.鈥� This is their attempt to dissuade customers from trying to order the divisive dish, considered by many Italians, including my husband, to be culinary heresy.

It might surprise people to learn that more than half of Brits aren鈥檛 averse to it. In 2017, YouGov conducted polling over the Hawaiian pizza and found that 53% of respondents liked it. I for one am grateful to the culinary rebels who invent and reinvent new things for me to taste, but I also admire those who take a stand to preserve the integrity of traditional foods. Guarding against the dilution of culture whilst being open to innovation and the sharing of ideas, is a delicate balancing act. Respect and sensitivity are necessary values.

The tension between tradition and progress is a cultural battleground. It raises the question: who gets to decide what is the right way of doing something? This is about who owns culture, who makes the rules, who decides what鈥檚 pure and what鈥檚 correct.

It was no different in New Testament times, when Jesus was repeatedly criticised by the religious leaders of his day for not sticking to rituals or other customary ways of doing things. 鈥淵ou abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition,鈥� he argued with them. His point was that God was the ultimate arbiter of how things ought to be done. His movement was one which encouraged people to go back to the source, to how things should be, back to the original recipe, holding to God-given values based on relationship and love.

Jesus had little time for holding to tradition just for the sake of it, if it conflicted with his message or created a barrier to the gospel. As he himself said, 鈥渉e did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it.鈥� Jesus was neither a traditionalist nor a progressive. He was the progress.

What does this mean for me? My husband鈥檚 family come from Southern Italy, birthplace of the pizza, so the ones he makes at home are authentic Neapolitan pizzas鈥�except for when my English dad comes for tea. A can of the heretical pineapple is bought specially for the occasion, and my husband willingly garnishes a pizza with it, just for my dad, who likes Hawaiian the best. Love for family is a vital traditional value, it might even be more important than pizza.

Show less