Pineapples have been synonymous with hospitality and wealth for centuries.

Pineapples were believed to have originated from greater Amazonia, the region between Brazil, and Paraguay and exported to the Caribbean.  By the late 1600’s, the concept of pineapples symbolizing hospitality was transported all along the eastern seaboard of the new world. Sailors and American colonists adopted the natives’ customs of hanging the fruit in front of their village entrances and huts to welcome strangers. Back on the mainland, returning seafaring captains would often impale pineapples on their porch posts to let the neighbours know that they had returned safely home and were welcoming visitors.

With time pineapples were considered an extravagance due to its perishability, exoticism, and scarcity. Adjusted to today’s inflation, one pineapple could fetch $8000 in the Americas and Europe.  Affluent colonists would come to throw dinner parties and display a pineapple as the centrepiece, being an instantaneous display of their status symbol and wealth. 

Due to the exorbitant prices, pineapples became mainly used for decoration and only eaten once they started rotting. Carved pineapples became the affordable way of displaying the symbol of hospitality and prestige; Plantations started carving pineapple-like shapes into columns at their entrances, doors, borders, bedposts, and headboards.

In Europe, the prohibitively expensive fruit was a symbol of wealth and prestige associated with the aristocracy and royalty; England’s Charles II, who ruled until 1685, held a pineapple while having his official portrait painted. The supply was scarce and dependent on the ships returning from their long trans-oceanic journeys.  Often the pineapples arrived bruised, rotted, and spoiled due to bad weather and humid conditions.

By the 1700’s a successful technique of growing pineapples in hothouses was developed. It was still very expensive to build and maintain as the pineapple plants needed three to four years to grow. However, for those who did not have extravagant funds to grow their own pineapples, a new business cropped up. Pineapple rental markets took the European gentry by storm. Before selling them for consumption, merchants rented pineapples to people who couldn’t afford them. The trend allowed the hosts and hostesses to hire a pineapple to show off the exotic fruit in parlours and later in the evening into the dining rooms. At the dinner tables, guests were persuaded not to eat the fruit with the pretence it was reserved for a more prestigious person. Meanwhile, others would rent a pineapple only to bring to parties, not to gift the host, but solely to carry around and give the illusion of being able to afford such an expensive fruit.

The pineapple evolved into a consumer culture representing the idea of luxury. Starting in the 1760s, Josiah Wedgwood invented earthenware decorated with the luxury symbol onto green and gold glazed porcelain teapots, bowls, sugar dishes, and tea caddies.  Teapots in the shape of a pineapple, became hugely popular. Even, expressions were adopted in everyday speech; in the 1770’s “a pineapple of the finest flavour” was a phrase used to denote anything that was the best. 

With the invention of the refrigerated ship, in 1881, the successful transportation of mass pineapples was born.  Pineapples were no longer exclusive to the rich. In 1900, the industrialist, James Dole, began a pineapple plantation in Hawaii even though, not a native fruit to the island.  The Hawaiian Pineapple Company later became the Dole Food Company, hugely successful—for seven decades. Initially, the company produced more than 75 percent of the world's pineapples.

Today the symbol of the pineapple remains a mainstay in the hospitality industry. Many towns, inns and households display pictures or carvings of the fruit to convey a sense of welcoming. This decorative touch continues to be seen on dinnerware, napkins, tablecloths, wallpaper, door knockers, address plaques, stationery and doormats. It also invokes positivity and friendliness, representing the modern love for vacations and getaways, a common theme in beach/coastal homes.

Similarly in Chinese traditions, the pineapple became a traditional feng shui symbol of good fortune and prosperity. Pineapples are considered lucky because the sounds of the Chinese word for ‘pineapple’ is almost identical to the sounds of ‘good luck’.