Be forewarned, this lesson will make you hungry! Or at least, it makes me start to salivate every time I open it up. Today we discuss the noble invention of the fork! Move over sporks, you'll have your time to shine later. Let's begin!
Fork:fôrk - an implement with two or more prongs used for lifting food to the mouth or holding it when cutting.
Let's sink our teeth into the fascinating history of this handy little utensil, now shall we?
History of Forks
Before we could spork ourselves full of spaghetti, our ancestors had to first discover the eating utensil we call the fork. These handy little devices have been around for quite a while too. Bone forks have been found in archeological sites from as far back at 2400 B.C! Researchers have also found these instruments in ruins of the Shang dynasty which ranged from ~1600 to 1050 B.C.
If we were to visit Ancient Egypt, forks were used as cooking utensils. The Roman empire used bronze and silver forks but they were mostly for cooking and serving. The use of forks in that day and age were more based on the local customs and social class of the users. Not everyone was brandishing a shiny silver fork of course!
Forks and Marriage Feasts
t wasn’t until a wedding in 1004 that we hear the first stories of table forks being used. The niece of a Byzantine emperor brought a gold fork to her wedding feast in Venice. At the time, most people would just eat with their fingers and sometimes the assistance of knives because well, there was plenty of those around. (You know, all the violence and such.) It was scandalous. The local priest claimed it to be sinful to use a fork when God had given man natural forks – fingers.
A few years later when the bridge died of the plague, some said that she was punished for the fact that she chose to eat with a fork and her hateful vanity.
The Spread of Forks
By the 11th Century, forks had become more commonplace in Italian households. The three prong approach worked best for the pasta dishes they were so accustomed to eating. The rest of northern Europe, was a little slower to catch onto the new trend. Which brings us back to another glorious wedding.
With love comes the spread of new technology. I mean, I’m guessing so since that’s how the rest of the world became introduced to forks. Catherine de Medici brought her collection of silver forks to a wedding in France in 1533 when she married future King Henry II. Once an English traveler wrote about his account of the new eating practice, it would begin to spread, not without ridicule at first.
By the 17th century, the American colonies were still stabbing their food with knives and trying to scoop the bites of food with spoons. By the 1850’s forks had finally been establish into the United States. Then, it wasn’t until the spork was trademarked in 1969 that we got a new take on this age old utensil.