Do You Eat Your Pizza With A Fork Or With Your Hands?

I know several, a few in my own family, who prefer using a fork to eat thin crust pizza.

I tried using a fork once and found that the pizza was actually less "enjoyable" that way. It may sound crazy but there's something about immersing yourself in the pizza that just feels more "right". All the senses are involved. Even if the toppings are falling everywhere, for me that's part of the charm of eating a pizza. I have to use my hands.

Just make sure to stock up on a few extra napkins!

Jeff

We were just talking about this the other night. Went out to dinner (to a new pizza restaurant that we LOVE...providing link just so you can see this great menu! http://www.ppizzavino.com/downloads/pizzaVino_dinner.pdf) with another couple and they were eating theirs with knife and fork. It looked awkward, they had a tough time (literally) cutting it, and it just didn't seem as enjoyable to me. I'm with you Jeff. Remember, we are siblings from a different mother or something like that.

Knife and fork when it's really hot, then with my hands when it's cooled off a little. When using hands, I use the age-old "fold in half at the crust" method as opposed to the "keep the crust flat and eat the floppy end" method. As you know, the folded crust tends to provide support to the pointy end.

It depends on the pizza crust. If the crust is thin and crispy I pick it up. Otherwise I use a knife and fork. But I am a person who is help with out a knife in one hand and the fork in another.

[Robin Garr]

Let's add a poll!

Both.

We have pizza once a week (usually Saturday night) and start out with knife and fork but then switch to hands.

[Jenise]

I know several, a few in my own family, who prefer using a fork to eat thin crust pizza.

I tried using a fork once and found that the pizza was actually less "enjoyable" that way. It may sound crazy but there's something about immersing yourself in the pizza that just feels more "right". All the senses are involved.

I agree, and I believe there's a logical, physical explanation--holding the pizza close to your face brings all the wonderful aromas right up to your nose, and that excites your appetite more than the distance required for knife and fork. Same principal applies to hot dogs, fried chicken and any number of hand-held foods. Could use a knife and fork in the white tablecloth situations in which eating with your hands wouldn't be right, but typically I wouldn't choose pizza in that kind of establishment even when it's available. The one exception I made was when dining at the Ground Zero of gourmet pizzas, Spago, and finally going with the knife and fork but thinking, "this is all wrong!"

Like they do in Naples if its thin crust - folded in half with the hands.

It depends on the pizza crust. If the crust is thin and crispy I pick it up. Otherwise I use a knife and fork. But I am a person who is help with out a knife in one hand and the fork in another.

Ditto

When I was sixteen, I spent some time at Phillips Andover, and a classmate took it upon himself to correct my table manners. I had been brought up to do what I was told -- by my father, but at sixteen anyone who spoke with authority could pretty much get me to do things. So I learned how to eat watermelon with knife and fork, and even mastered eating fried chicken with knife and fork, which can get a little tricky. When I went back home, nobody was the least bit impressed with my new skills so I semi-forgot them.

Back in those days pizza was "new" and everyone had to learn how to deal with it. I probably ate it with knife and fork for a while (because of my training at Andover) but once again, it just begs to be picked up and eaten by hand. FWIW same with corn on the cob. The one thing that convinces the French that Americans are barbarians more than anything else is the fact that we eat corn with our hands. There is an impressive black and white picture in my copy of Larousse Gastronomique in French with a photogenic young lady holding up an ear of corn with both hands, captioned "Les Americains..."

I suppose I probably should have answered with "Both" because I will use a knife and fork if I really have to. As Frank says, though, pizza begs to be finger (or hand) food. It's part of the experience for me and I will avoid utensils if it's at all possible. Therefore, I went with the hands option on the poll.

I agree, and I believe there's a logical, physical explanation--holding the pizza close to your face brings all the wonderful aromas right up to your nose, and that excites your appetite more than the distance required for knife and fork.

I especially feel this way about fruits. So it's always awkward at my wife's family's house where they want to eat every last piece of fruit (ok, maybe not cherries or grapes) with silverware. And I must restrain myself.

Both: knife and fork as long as it's too floppy or too hot to handle, then fingers the rest of the way.

I am not a fan of folding it up. That leads to burned roof of mouth.

I eat it like Rahsaan, True Love eats it like Christina.

We have pizza once a week (usually Saturday night)

That's because it is Pizza Night, of course.

However, we also have Bonus Pizza Night when the whim takes us. Which is often.

Our pizza is too crisp to fold.

However, we also have Bonus Pizza Night when the whim takes us. Which is often.

Nice idea! For us it's more likely to be 'Makeup Pizza Night' when for some unforeseen and calamitous reason we cannot do it on Saturday.

Our pizza is too crisp to fold.

Ditto.