Have you been eating pizza wrong? Why you shouldn't pick up a slice by the crust

An Italian chef says you should always fold your pizza before you eat it. Photo / Getty Images

Before you tuck into your Saturday night pizza, there's something you should know: you've been eating it the wrong way your entire life.

That is, according to London-based food expert Daniel Young, who says there is a right and wrong way to hold the classic takeaway treat.

And the author of Where To Eat Pizza - a guide to the world's 'best' pizzerias - has some bad news for those of us who hold pizza by the crust.

It turns out that holding pizza this way is entirely inauthentic - and the foodie says we should actually tuck into pizza by first folding it into a wallet shape.

He was taught the secrets of pizza eating by Italian pizza chef Enzo Coccia, and has a series of YouTube tutorials showing people how to eat the classic dish properly.

"Its kind of ridiculous that Enzo thinks there's a right way," Daniel told the Manchester Evening News, "but I always think it's best to learn the rules before you break them."

Firstly, he says, the pizza dough often served up in British restaurants is far too hard.

Pizza connoisseurs should always eat a pizza with a soft base as traditional Neapolitan pizza always much less tough than British replicas.

In one of his Youtube guides, Daniel says: "Rather than eat pasta al dente and pizza soft, in the Neapolitan way, foreigners learned to do the opposite."

But the trouble with soft pizza is that if you hold it by the crust, the toppings will slide straight off, leaving you with a soggy piece of bare dough.

Italian pizza chef Enzo Coccia says you should first fold your pizza in half ...

... and fold it a second time ...

... then eat.

This is why the best way to eat pizza is to instead fold it into a wallet-shape, according to Daniel - the way they eat it in Naples.

Folding the pizza using this method means the toppings stay in their rightful place, and there's no leaky sauce.

So put away your pizza cutter - all you need to do is fold the pizza in half once, and then a second time, before holding it in a napkin.

Then you have the perfect pizza slice a la Naples to go.