【1996 Archives】

Whether you love it996 Archives hate it, or can't seem to make your mind up about it -- there's no denying that you've probably come across Hawaiian pizza at some point in your life.

Sam Panopoulus, the man credited with first putting pineapple on pizza, passed away last Thursday at the age of 83.

Panopoulous, who emigrated from Greece to Canada in 1954, ran several restaurants in Ontario with his siblings.

His infamous creation was born when he and his brothers decided one day to put tinned pineapple on pizza just to find out how it would taste.

"We just put it on, just for the fun of it, see how it was going to taste," he told the BBC earlier this year.

"We were young in the business and we were doing a lot of experiments."

The rest as they say, is history.

Earlier this year, the President of Iceland caused an online firestorm after he declared on Facebook that he was "fundamentally opposed" to pineapple as a pizza topping.

The hashtag #pineapplepizza started trending and sides were quickly picked.

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Canada's very own Justin Trudeau had an important opinion on it.

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As did a famous chef.

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And shots were quickly fired.

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So whether you love or hate pineapple on pizza, there's no doubt Panopoulus has left a long lasting legacy in the world.

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