Bananas and Curry on Pizza? That’s How the Swedish Do It

I had no idea banana curry pizza even existed in Sweden until I saw a piece of pizza art from Cities by the Slice on Instagram. On the account, illustrator Dan Bransfield highlights the foods of different cities, and when I saw his pizza print featuring slices around the world, with a Swedish slice topped with bananas, I was intrigued.

Weeks later, I arrived in Stockholm and almost immediately set out in search of the specialty pie. The first pizzeria I came across had it on the menu, so I took a seat on the patio and ordered a pizza. I wasn’t sure what to expect of the pie topped with bananas, cheese, curry and salty ham, but when I took my first bite, I was pleasantly surprised. It was delicious. The slight sweetness of the bananas, the saltiness from the cheese and the ham, and a kick from the intense flavor and smell of the curry all came together quite nicely. The combination just worked.

But I wondered: Why is this a thing in Sweden?

There’s technically no official date on record as to when the banana curry pizza was introduced in Sweden. Richard Tellström, a food historian at Stockholm University, has his theories, though.

“There’s an interest in the Pacific [in the] years after World War II, and this creates the sort of postwar Polynesian food culture that I would link this banana pizza to,” he says.

Since the 1960s and ’70s, Sweden has had a deep interest in Polynesian flavors, like bananas and pineapple, which were introduced in Swedish cookbooks to inspire home cooks. “Deep-fried bananas served [with] steak [or] veal [is] an early dish from the 1960s served at some restaurants,” Tellström says. “Bananas could be served along with ham, as a fancy dish for a Saturday night with the family watching TV. In the ’70s, a simple, everyday dish at home could be sausage filled with tomatoes, pineapple, mustard and ham. In the ’80s, deep-fried bananas [were] a common dessert at Chinese restaurants, and then served with ice cream and ginger syrup. You could use the new microwave to make an ‘Oriental chicken,’ a dish with chicken, curry, bananas and peanuts.”

One especially peculiar dish introduced in the 1970s is a casserole called the Flying Jacob, made with chicken, chili sauce, bacon…