Canadian tennis player Genie Bouchard is making quite a racket on Twitter.
On Tuesday, the 23-year-old took to the social media site to share the odd way she likes to enjoy her pizza: with soy sauce.
‘Pizza dipped in soy sauce is LIFE,’ the pro athlete wrote, quickly sparking a major debate.
Controversial: Tennis player Genie Bouchard revealed on Twitter this week that she likes to dip her pizza in soy sauce
Shock: The 23-year-old revelation sparked a flood of stunned tweets, gifs and images from her followers, the majority of whom were horrified by the thought
Sporting star: Despite her love of the salty pizza-and-soy-sauce combination, it’s unlikely Genie is encouraged to indulge in the cheesy treat by her tennis coaches
Rest: The Canadian appears to be on vacation in the Bahamas at the moment – which is where she posted her controversial pizza tweet from
Genie, who was the first Canadian-born player representing Canada to reach the finals of a Grand Slam in single.
Unsurprisingly, many people expressed disgust and horror at her bizarre meal suggestion.
Several tweeted gifs depicting feelings of nausea while others insisted she must be joking. People used the words ‘gross,’ ‘disrespectful,’ and ‘weird’.
‘Umm, I can life without THAT sauce on my pizza just fine,’ wrote one. ‘I’m calling the police, they’ll be there shortly,’ wrote another.
‘Feeling so offended for both pizza AND soy sauce,’ a third said.
Ha… ha? Some people suggested that Genie must have been joking about mixing the two foods, while others simply share their revulsion at the mere concept of pizza and soy suace
Testing, testing… Jay and Dan, the hosts of a show on Canada’s sports network TSN, decided to try out Genie’s unique food combo for themselves
Several pointed out how incredibly salty such a concoction would be, with one laying out some very troubling math: ‘One SLICE of pepperoni pizza has 835 mg of sodium. One tablespoon (16g) of soy sauce is 684, for a total of 1509mg.’
However, not everyone was put off by the idea, with many subscribing to the ‘don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it’ process of thinking.
‘New one. Just happen to have leftover pizza. Will try it,’ wrote one. ‘Haven’t tried that but I can confirm that mozzarella sticks are amazing in soy sauce,’ said another.
Jay and Dan, hosts of a show on Canada’s sports network TSN, went so far as to test it out themselves, with Jay saying it’s ‘not bad’ and ‘not terrible’ – however Dan promised to never eat it again.
Striking a chord: Some of the reactions were especially extreme, with one person even asking if Genie was ‘high’
Tempted? A Twitter user by the name of Andrew simply shared a ‘surprised’ gif in response to her tweet – but didn’t seem entirely horrified by her foodie suggestion
Open minds: A couple of other people were far more supportive, with some saying that they wholeheartedly agreed with Genie, while others agreed to give pizza and soy sauce a try
Support! One person piped up to share their joy at learning of another person who is a fan of pizza and soy sauce
Soy sauce is hardly the first unconventional ingredient to be put on pizza — in fact, several Twitter users have horrified and outraged others on the social media network this year after tweeting about their own odd combinations.
In March, one shared an image of himself dipping a slice of pepperoni pizza into a glass of milk and wrote: ‘Pizza + Milk = a great combination.’
Others followed suit, dipping their own slices into milk and uploading the evidence. It’s unclear if these people genuinely enjoyed the combination or were simply looking to get a rise out of people, but thousands took the bait.
‘Why would you disrespect pizza like this?’ wrote one horrified Twitter user. ‘Just seen a picture of pizza being dunked into milk… I am completely disturbed,’ wrote another.
And earlier this month, Twitter user user @MoonEmojii went viral with a picture of her own strawberry-topped pizza.
Quirky: Another pizza trend to spark uproar on social media was the slice-dipped-in-milk method, which horrified hundreds when it went viral on Twitter earlier this year
Feeling fruity: Recently, Twitter user @MoonEmojii posted a picture of a strawberry-topped cheese pizza and promptly sparked a furious online debate
Sick: Many Twitter users were quick to share their disgust
Taking things very seriously: One person jokingly looped in the Twitter account for ‘God’ in an attempt to ban the topping from their feed
Call to arms: One Twitter user felt everyone should unite against strawberries
911: People joked that they had called the cops to report the pizza
‘Strawberries [are better than] pineapples,’ she wrote, sharing a snap of the cheesy slice with pieces of fruit baked into the mozzarella.
While some people attempted to stick up for the strawberry topping, the majority of responses bashed the dish.
‘Pineapple and non-pineapple pizza eaters must put our differences aside and join forces to defeat this evil,’ wrote one.
‘This is disgusting. When I eat pizza I’m not trying to be healthy. Fruit should not be allowed on pizza,’ said another.
Although traditionally used in desserts, strawberries have become increasingly popular in savory cooking with chefs adding them to summer salads.
Recipes for savory strawberry pizzas also appear on the popular Cookie and Kate blog, How Sweet Eats and Closet Cooking.