Ever see the Seinfeld episode where Elaine watches her boss eating a candy bar with a fork and knife?

The first time I ate pizza in the UK, I was reminded of this as I watched everyone eat their pizza with a fork and knife. It doesn’t matter if you’re eating pizza from a Michelin-starred restaurant or Pizza Hut, you don’t use your hands. It’s not a thin-crust issue. It’s not a this-pizza-is-too-flipping-hot issue. I believe it’s an issue of manners.

Speaking of manners, Matthew is frequently horrified when he eats with Americans and finds them doing the familiar dance of cutting up their food — steak, for example — into pieces (knife in right hand, fork in left), only to put their knife down, swap their fork from their left hand to their right and then stab the little pieces with their right. The process is exhausting and inefficient. By contrast, he keeps his knife in his right, fork in his left and cuts each piece, stabs and then eats with his left. No silverware shuffle. It’s the essence of simplicity and actually the way I prefer to eat now. Even when I’m enjoying a Snickers bar.