Ted Cruz: ‘In the Critical Pizza Primary I Am The Only One … Who Doesn’t Eat Pizza with a Knife and a Fork’

New Yorkers are serious about their pizza, and presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz seized a prime opportunity to dub himself “the only one of the Republican candidates who doesn’t eat pizza with a knife and a fork.”

During the town hall event held on Monday by Good Morning America, audience member Oz Sultan asked Cruz, “Pressing question for New Yorkers, New York thin crust or Chicago Deep Dish?”

“Actually I’m a thin crust guy,” responded Cruz. “And I will note, in the critical pizza primary, I am the only one of the Republican candidates who doesn’t eat pizza with a knife and a fork. There’s only one way to eat it and that is in your hand.”

Roberts asked if it’s “helpful to have these light moments?” Cruz responded, “Oh, you’ve gotta laugh, you’ve gotta have fun.”

Mr. Sultan even promoted his impending question on Twitter:

Ohio Gov. John Kasich was rebuked when during a campaign event in New York almost three weeks ago he used a knife and fork to eat a slice of pizza. The candidate then switched to eating sans silverware, hand to mouth.

Kasich defended his pizza-with-a-“little fork” action the next day on Good Morning America, stating that the pizza “came scalding hot, OK?”

Liberal New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has faced the scorn of knife and fork pizza eating himself, defended Kasich’s silverware decision.

GOP frontrunner and native New Yorker Donald Trump has also been seen taking knife and fork to pizza. During a meeting in July, 2011 with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Trump and Palin each used silverware to eat their Famiglia Pizzera slices, according to the NY Daily News.

The 2008 Vice Presidential candidate gave Trump a resounding endorsement for president shortly before the Iowa caucuses. She has since joined Trump on the campaign trail in several states including Iowa, Florida, and Wisconsin. An accident involving Palin’s husband Todd caused her to rush home around the time of the Florida primary election.

Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana