The English name for the fork came from the Latin word furca which means pitchfork. However, the fork its self did not come to be until the Renaissance movement. Before the name was coined, the fork had to be invented.
Fork-like instruments were not unheard of but rather they were one-pronged spikes (figure 1) which were used to retrieve hard to reach food or lift food off of a fire in order to avoid being burned. Medieval diners (410-1400AD) had tiny “sucket” forks (figure 2 and 4) which were double ended, having a spoon on one side and a two-pronged fork on the other. Originally these fork-like instruments were only used by the rich. Another early ancestor of the fork is the ligula, a flat bay leaf shaped utensil used for spearing food. Two-pronged, bone forks have been found in China dating back to the Bronze Age (3200-300BC). Evidence of these forks has also been found in stone carved images of Chinese dining scenes. Forks were originally carved from wood (figure 3) and animal bone in Egypt, China, and Greece. It wasn’t until the early 19th century that forks began to have four prongs rather than three. |
Figure 1: Single Spike
Figure 2: Sucket
Figure 3: Three Pronged Wooden Fork
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In 1608 Thomas Coryate (figure 9) traveled from England to Italy. While he was in Italy he observed the use of forks rather than fingers for holding meat when it was being cut. At first he found this practice rather strange but he eventually adopted it for himself and continued to use forks when he went back to England. Coryate was then teased by his friends in England.
Figure 9: Etching of Thomas Coryate |
Forks were a luxury in the 16th and 17th century (figure 11 and 12). During this period people were always given knives, spoons, and plates but not always forks at fancy dinners. In the late 19th century it became more normal in the upper-middle class to eat with forks and to use them to cut food into little pieces before they were eaten. Before the use of the fork and knife the eating style was called “stuff-and-cut” which considered of grabbing the food in one’s hands and tearing the food of with your mouth. “Fork anxiety, a nervous condition brought on by the smorgasbord of silver-ware laid out on the table of grand dinners” (Wilson 188).
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Figures 11&12: Forks as a luxury
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The wedding of the Greek Princess Argillo and the son of the Doge Venice in the year 955 was the first occasion when a fork was used in Western Europe. The princess ate with a fork while the guests eat with their hands. Two hundred years after the princesses eat with a fork at her wedding stories of her absurdity and the disrespect of her use of her God-given hands were still told in church circles. When the princess died of the plague it was said that it was punishment for eating with a fork.
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The Catholic clergy believed that forks were a symbol of Satan (figure 14). The Roman Catholic church disapproved of the use of the fork due to the thought of it being an “excessive delicacy” and unnecessary for everyday life and the humble Catholic. An example that was used to prove that the fork was the devil's tool is when Princess Argillo died of the plague. The Catholic church used this as evidence that anyone who used a fork was working for the devil and would be punished by God.
Figure 14, Left: The Devil holding a pitchfork |
The majority of early forks were two-pronged but there are also some surviving three and four-pronged forks. The number of prongs on the forks is an indicator of their use not their age. Two pronged forks (figure 16) are ideal for stabbing meat and stabilizing it for cutting. Three pronged (figure 17) and four pronged (figure 18) forks are best for carrying food from the plate to the mouth. At one point there were experiments with five pronged forks (figure 19) but being too much for the average human mouth to hold, four prongs became the limit.
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Figure 20: The spork
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Figure 21: The knork
Figure 22, Left:
The sporf |
In modern times the fork has been combines with other utensils resulting in the spork (figure 20), knork (figure 21), and sporf (figure 22). In the modern Western part of the world we use forks for almost every meal. Forks can be found at not only fancy meals but also casual ones. Now we take forks for granted but when the table fork first came into exitance it was laughed at, mocked, and scolded for being unconventional and a rude utensil
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