In Israel the American chain Pizza Hut was hit by thousands of protest messages for the launch of the new knafeh pizza. The company has in fact been accused of misappropriating the traditional Palestinian sweet: the knafeh or knafe. The dessert is very popular in the Arab world especially in Palestine. Covered with stretched curd, it contains cheese inside.
Pizza Hut, which has always been famous around the world for its unusual toppings, hadn’t thought that the new version of pizza could cause a scandal. In the launch on the social Instragram to present the new product, the company had written “A particularly sweet love story”. Unaware of the “danger”, the US marketing managers had insisted, adding that “Pizza Hut recognizes the untapped potential of this irresistible southern dish”. In a few minutes the case was off. Many Palestinians have accused the multinational of “cultural appropriation” and have called for it to be removed from restaurants across the country.
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by Massimo Basile
Even the French-Palestinian cook Say Giant he spoke of “bad taste” and said he was particularly indignant about the origin of the cheese used in the recipe. Traditionally the ingredient used was produced at Nablus while with the new version of Pizza Hut it will come from Safedan Arab city until 1948. Also the Israeli newspaper Haaretz expressed his disagreement and called the new pizza “an insult to Arab pastry”.