BillR sent this in and said “I know pineapple on pizza is a contentious issue (I’m in favor, myself) but what’s the joke here?” And hdh sent it and had a related thought: “Okay does this have something to do with the domino effect or pineapple on pizza controversy?”
I agree it’s probably just a gesture of pineapple-hate. But I can’t quell the urge to take “gruesome” as “grew some” despite not having any available grammatical quirk that would make that sensible.
Hey, not avoiding brand names!
Comics I Don't Understand 
I’m with the pineapple on pizza controversy. I’m also with BillR…yum! I think it’s just a dig at people like us.
However, I understand the confusion. There are a few things to question here. The pineapple in that truck wouldn’t have entered Domino’s, so what gruesome effect could the cop be talking about? Also, there doesn’t seem to be any flames, so why is the fireman there with a hose out? Maybe there is something more. I’m looking forward to other interpretations.
Firetrucks frequently show up at accident sites, just in case I guess. Also, yeah, the windshield appears to be intact so I’m not sure how the pineapple got into the restaurant. Maybe if the truck was on its side, with the roof facing the restaurant…I hate how I’m overthinking this. Also, I like pineapple on pizza sometimes.
The setup in the comic is no more nor less believable than the unlikely collisions in the old advertisements for “Reese’s peanut butter cups” (which I like, and can sometimes even find here in Germany).
P.S. I live in a country in which “pineapple & ham” pizza is so widespread, it even has a standard name. In German, this combination is called “Pizza Hawaii“, and it is just as loved and/or hated as in America. There is also a snackbar version called “Toast Hawaii” (for which one stacks a slice of toasted bread, usually with mayo on it, then ham, a ring of pineapple, topped with a slice of medium soft cheese, which is then grilled briefly in an oven until the cheese melts, and (optionally) covered with a freshly fried egg). On (rare) occasions I have prepared the latter for my wife and sometimes for my kids, but I would never eat either version myself (totally icky, or as one says in German: “Igitt!“).
P.P.S. I think “grew some” is an irrelevant homonym, but I also think the policeman’s second bubble should have read “None at all, but a lot of them are pretty sick in there.“
“Hawaiian Pizza” is a pretty standard name for that combo in the U.S. as well.
Perhaps it was not Hawai’i but other islands where (I was told as a child) the big deal was dishes with pineapple and Spam — the canned alternative being called for because they lacked locally-raised pigs and locally-cured ham. Since I don’t even remember which Islands this was supposed to be, I guess I shouldn’t swear to this as authentic.
In the Florida Keys, at shops where they sell you expensive bottles of Genuine Key Lime juice, they also have posters and fliers telling stories that explain how Key Lime Pie has traditionally been made with canned condensed milk — because originally the Keys had no dairy industry and settlers relied on canned milk for all purposes, sent in by sea or Mr. Flagler’s Railroad.
I’m not a big fan of Hawaiian pizza, but when I first saw this, I was thinking (and it seems confirmed by the comments here) that it normally includes ham too. If there had been a 2nd truck involved in the accident that was hauling ham, it would have been an obvious pineapple trashing comic.
Why would anyone go to the Keys to get Key lime juice, when it’s available at one’s local grocery store? Imported from South America, in fact (I’d go look at the bottle I have in the fridge, but I’m not that interested, unless someone really wants to know).
I don’t like pineapple on my pizza. I don’t like it on anything or by itself. But I’ve never understood why there seems to be a united hatred of it on pizza. Particularly when there’s such a thing as anchovies on pizza. Now this is something everyone should be against.
Andréa, of course you’re right, I wouldn’t go to the Keys to get Key lime juice, either. But visiting there for various other reasons, if you step into shops there you find it thoroughly fetishized, as I described.
If they have key lime juice that’s not from concentrate, that might be worthwhile. Locally you can buy the fresh limes and squeeze them yourself, although it takes longer than the regular limes.
Pointless trivia: Hawaiian pizza is said to have first been invented by a Greek immigrant living in Canada, who called it “Hawaiian” simply because that was the name of the brand of canned pineapple that he originally used on the pizza.
Nope – anchovies all the way for me!!
True – which is hilarious because there are no Key lime orchards in Florida. I make Key lime pies and bars quite often, in case anyone wonders why I know about Key limes and juice. In fact, in a botanical garden we visited years ago, we were told that their Key lime tree was one of few actual trees remaining in Florida. Could’ve been hyperbole, of course; I never verified it.
I often have pineapple on my pizzas, and like the taste of it in general on all sorts of other things. My all-time favorite soft drink was Pineapple Crush, which was available locally for about six months forty or so years ago, and apparently bombed mightily in the US (per Wikipedia, it’s still available in Newfoundland and Labrador, but I didn’t love it enough to make that long a trip every week).
But to each hir own. (To me, anchovies on a poor helpless pizza are right up there next to the Designated Hitter Rule in baseball as proof that we are living in the End Times.)
billytheskink: So Hawaiian pizza (invented in Canada) joins a long list of products like chow mein and chop suey and fortune cookies (all invented in America, not China) and Panama hats (made in Ecuador but worn in Panama as well as everywhere else) and German chocolate cake (invented in America by a chocolate manufacturer named German).
There isn’t any commercial production in the Keys anymore, but there used to be. It wiped out by hurricanes. Most of the commercial limes are grown in Mexico and other locations.
Also, almost all citrus production in South Florida was eliminated by a combination of Citrus Canker, and the attempts to control the spread of the disease.
Destroy all citrus trees within 100 yards of an infected one
within 500 yards…
within a mile…
… how about start at the southern end of Central Florida commercial groves and destroy all citrus trees between them and anything infected… okay that worked.
Now it’s Citrus Greening that’s infecting the trees.
While living in the UK, I went to a local pizza place and they had a ‘Canadian Pizza’. It had corn on it. Clearly, the owner had never been to Canada. At least not where I grew up.
BillytheSkink, I totally believe that. The Hawaiian pizza version I first encountered included Canadian bacon, which is obviously not really bacon at all, but does work well with pineapple. Thin-sliced ham bits, as opposed to chunks, also works. I’ve tried various combos with other meats but Canadian bacon seems to work best.
There was a discussion somewhere (could be GoComics, could be YouTube) about pineapple on pizza. Someone stated that you’d never find that in New York City. Which I had to research and disprove. In fact, many if not most pizzerias in NYC offer pineapple as an ingredient.
I wonder how pizza with pineapple and Spam might do…
My father loves Hawaiian pizza so we have it periodically. I’ll take leftovers (including plain slices) to work for lunch and wash it down with a bottle of pineapple-coconut flavored Sparkling Ice brand carbonated water.
If I were going to put Spam on a pizza, I’d wanted well browned up ahead of time.
Anchovies – yes,absolutely, along with black olives.
Pineapple – no, not really. Not for cultural appropriation/authenticity reasons, it’s just not to my taste. I like pineapple – I’ve usually got a fresh one either ripening or in the fridge being progressively consumed – but not on pizza. I do like it with ham/gammon/pork – if I’m cooking gammon steak or a pork chop, I’ll often gently fry a wedge of fresh pineapple, then when lightly browned add sugar to caramelise and chopped birdseye or scotch bonnet chilli.
Maybe it’s the combination with cheese. Cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks was classic party food in the 60s/70s. Tried the combination again a couple of years ago. Vile.
I’m told that the idea of eating meat and fruit together was brought to Britain by Crusaders returning from the Middle East.
PS – of course Canadian bacon is really bacon. It’s those thin belly slices fried until crispy in the USA which isn’t 😀
In today’s B. C. strip, pizza was featured. So naturally pineapple came up in the comments.
https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2022/05/25
@ Andrėa – Larson’s composition is much more effective, because it shows the incompatible components before the crash, thus avoiding the details about whether they would actually be any mixing afterwards. Larson discussed this “enhancement of suspense” in one of his books, showing two different versions of a cook throwing the ball in a “dunk the lobster” game.