# Males vs Females: Do you eat pizza with a fork and a knife, or with your hands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139 "2013-01-23T19:30:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/81 "2013-01-24T15:39:46Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > It depends on the firmness of the crust, the amount of toppings and how hot the pizza is. This. Most memorable was the pizza at Mama Rosa’s in New Orleans (since moved to River Ridge due to Katrina) - thick edge and thin bottom. Tried to eat with my hands and almost got all the toppings in my lap! ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/82 "2013-01-24T16:12:47Z")
Man. Hands. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/83 "2013-01-24T17:02:49Z")
I believe there’s a scene in The Godfather, where Don Corleone is talking with Johnny Fontaine. DC: You eat pizza with your hands? JF: Sure I do. DC: Good, because a man who doesn’t eat pizza with his hands can never be a real man. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/84 "2013-01-24T17:48:33Z")
Manual. Although when I’m alone I don’t even use my hands. I just supersnork the whole thing in one shot, like Belushi with jello. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/85 "2013-01-24T18:43:42Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Grandma style is really a resurgence of the original or at least one of the original styles of pizza, Pizza Margherita. Tomato, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. I’ve seen it on a square Sicilian pan or round. You are right, it wasn’t really around when I was growing up except in specialty shops. Now it’s everywhere. Update from my pizza shop - the style as you describe above is labeled “Sicillian Caprese.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/86 "2013-01-24T19:37:26Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Update from my pizza shop - the style as you describe above is labeled “Sicillian Caprese.” Interesting. I have never heard that term before. So you couldn’t help yourself, just had to get some pizza. ETA: The name is a little strange. Sicilian in the style of Capri. Is it from Sicily? Is it from Capri? ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/87 "2013-01-24T19:47:54Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Interesting. I have never heard that term before. > > So you couldn’t help yourself, just had to get some pizza. Yeah, basically! > [@](#): > > ETA: The name is a little strange. Sicilian in the style of Capri. Is it from Sicily? Is it from Capri? I had the same thought. What the heck does that _mean_? And the longer I thought about it, the less sense it made. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/88 "2013-01-24T20:19:35Z")
Can I get some special dispensation here? I’d normally vote hands. But over the years a degenerative jaw condition has made it impossible to bite anything. It could be a Velveeta and Wonderbread sandwich and I couldn’t bite off a chunk. So I have no choice but to cut virtually everything into tiny, girlish, morsels (and even then it can be a problem–I can’t really open my mouth for anything larger than a small grape). So as much as I used to love grabbing a slice on the go when I lived in the city, I can’t now–the shame is too great. I know that my condition justifies it, but I can’t shake the feeling of ostracization, as if everyone is starring at the weird dude from flyover country or that Jon Stewart is going to see me and smack me on the back of the head. Depressing, really. Man, I miss real life. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/89 "2013-01-24T21:17:57Z")
Another non-vote due to discrepancies between Chicago deep dish and other, inferior pizza. This thread has made me once again consider spending the $70+ to have a Giordano’s pizza shipped out to me. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/90 "2013-01-24T21:47:04Z")
The poll needs a “both.” It depends on the structural integrity of the pizza slice. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/91 "2013-01-24T22:54:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The poll needs a “both.” It depends on the structural integrity of the pizza slice. To me there is too much good pizza around here to waste my time on anything that is too greasy or falls apart as I’m eating it. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/92 "2013-01-24T23:28:51Z")
It depends entirely on how hot the pizza is. “Burn my mouth pizza”: fork and knife, or fork only. “Pick it up with my hands pizza”: pick it up with my hands. ---
**Author:** ![catnoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@catnoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catnoe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/93 "2013-01-24T23:36:55Z")
A proper neapolitan pizza gets eaten with a knife and fork till you get close enough to the crust to pick it up and fold it without the good stuff falling out of the crust. American thin crust ‘pizza’ gets eaten by hand…I don’t like the thicker crust. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/94 "2013-01-25T00:32:37Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I thought that was an American/European thing, not a male/female thing. Searching for images of _woman eating pizza_ gets me a lot of pictures of women cheerfully eating pizza with their fingers, not a knife & fork. Brazillians also eat pizza with a knife & fork. I think Argentines do as well, but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/95 "2013-01-25T05:15:08Z")
You don’t like it when your hands get messy? THEN DON"T EAT PIZZA! ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/96 "2013-01-25T05:26:44Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > I thought the whole “pizza with a fork and knife” thing was kind of a joke about uptight people. I had no idea people did this. Why would you use a fork and knife when it’s so conveniently packaged? If it’s that gooey and deep-dish is it really still a pizza or has it moved over to casserole territory? If I’m watching what I eat, I will eat pizza with a fork simply because it forces me to slow down and pay more attention to what I’m actually eating, instead of just shovelling down 2 or 3 slices like I’d like to. The exception is IMO’s, which is cut into small, cracker-sized squares (“the square beyond compare”) and that would seem weird, even for me. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/97 "2013-01-25T08:41:42Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > I hate messy hands as well but pizza is definitely a hands-on food. Don’t think I’ve ever eaten one messy enough to consider otherwise. > > And I like pizza cut into squares! just for you… The square beyond compare… > **[Menu - Imo's Pizza](https://www.imospizza.com/menu/)** jeez… I came here to say Imos’s sucks!! tsfr ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/98 "2013-01-25T09:05:13Z")
I didn’t see an “It depends” option in the poll so I can’t respond, but for me - well, it depends where I’m eating the pizza. If I’m eating it at home or a friend’s place (watching a movie, playing games, something like that) then I’ll eat it with my hands. However, if I’m in a restaurant, then I’ll eat it with a knife and fork like a civilised person. 😃 And I’d be wary of anywhere serving square pizzas around here, because they’re probably the sort of place that only lists prices to one decimal place (or not at all) and has a modern minimalist or deliberately urban chic decor. In other words, way too trendy and expensive for my liking. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/99 "2013-01-26T01:13:26Z")
Fork & knife, start with the toppings and cheese, then start on the bread but usually switch to picking it up to finish the bread (stopping at the crust which is not eaten). When I get to the last piece I plan to eat, start with the toppings (knife & fork still) set the cheese aside, get the bread usually picking it up, leave the crust, then eat the cheese (knife & fork) ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139/100 "2013-01-26T01:23:25Z")
I’m a US male over the age of 50 and I didn’t vote because “both” was not an option. Either at home and in a restaurant, when the pizza is first served hot from the oven, I’ll usually eat the first few bites of the first slice with a knife and fork. That allows the molten cheese to cool a bit and makes burning the roof of my mouth less likely. After the pizza has cooled for a couple of minutes, I’ll eat the rest of the first slice and subsequent slices with my hands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/males-vs-females-do-you-eat-pizza-with-a-fork-and-a-knife-or-with-your-hands/648139.md?page=6)