Forks
What does a fork mean to you? Is it something with which to break up the sods, or to muck out the stables? Perhaps you use a smaller version, while carving a roast, holding the meat steady while a sharp knife blade slices the joint.
If salad forms part of a meal, salad servers resembling a large spoon and fork can help move the greenery from bowl to plate, and perhaps a pickle fork might be used to spike onions or beetroot.
When I was a child, crumpets oozing with butter were a great treat in winter. These, and toasted bread, were cooked over coals in an open fire, and for this a toasting fork was used. Even with its long shaft, hands became very hot, and so did the faces of the people watching to see that the food didn’t burn.
Before forks were adopted, people used knives, spoons and fingers. Indeed, there is a saying, ‘Fingers were made before forks’, usually used to excuse the use of same.
Forks have been in use for centuries, since at least 2400 B.C, originally as cooking implements. Personal forks were used in the Byzantine Empire by the 4th century and forks were commonly used throughout the Middle East six hundred years later.
Italy used forks at table from the 11th century and by the 14th century they were commonplace. Guests were expected to provide their own forks and spoons when invited to dine.
It took longer for the fork to be adopted in northern Europe, some writers in the Catholic church deploring their use as an affectation. In England, Elizabeth I (1533-1603) owned forks but preferred to use her fingers. Personal table forks were not widely used until the 18th century.
America did not embrace the fork until just before the American Revolution (1765-1783)
Before forks were considered acceptable, the custom was to hold food down with the left hand and hold the knife in the right hand to cut. Then the knife would be used to take food to the mouth.
When forks were introduced, the custom of using the right hand for eating was retained, the fork being moved from left to right hand after cutting. This habit was taken to America by the British and became the accepted etiquette. Meanwhile, Europe eventually opted for the speedier style of retaining the fork in the left hand.
I suspect that the American method of eating probably slows down the consumption of food, which is better for the digestion.
Am I correct?
Okay I'll throw out another one. Fork lift? Fork in the road? forked tongue. You could have fun with this one for a week.
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Run with it, Red.
DeleteI assume you are correct about most things. 😁
ReplyDeleteYes, Brits handle their forks oddly, but I have heard on British tv programs that we are seen to be awkward the way that we use forks.
Ha! I wish I could be correct in most things. Actually, I learn from my mistakes, if I make them often enough. 🙄
DeleteI've known English people who put the food onto the back of the fork, using the knife to press it into place. That seems very weird to me. The fork is slightly scooped similar to spoons so we use it that way, to bring food to the mouth. We either stab the food or scoop it, or twirl it if it is spaghetti, but use it as a spoon is used, unless we have just used it to hold meat or other food while it is being cut, then we use it in the position it has been while cutting. Many times I have held food and cut it all at once then transferred the fork to my right hand to eat leaving my left hand free to turn the pages of whatever book I am reading. Yes, I read at the table, "no-one" does too.
ReplyDeleteReading while eating is a great pleasure, food for brain and body at the same time.
DeleteI have never seen anyone put the fork in their right hand, leaving the knife on the table. I imagine it happened in infancy when we didn't allow our children to use a knife at all!
ReplyDeleteDifferent cultures, different habits - it's interesting.
DeleteFork in the road - being faced with a potential change of plans? I eat (apparently) in the American fashion but don't change hands. I simply wield the knife in my left. I doubt there is much slowing even if one does swap hands from time to time. It can be done while chewing. I haven't noticed that Americans eat less than Europeans.
ReplyDeleteI taught a child who held his knife and fork in the 'wrong' hands. (I had to do dinner duty once a week.) I asked him about it and he said he'd always done that, even though everyone around him was using their cutlery 'correctly.'
DeleteFork in the road is a good one. Red, above, found some different ones, too. All good.
It has been in the back of my mind to post about the different cutlery usage across the pond. People here of my age follow the English manner of cutlery usage, but I am not sure about younger people. I must take note. My tenants have a very different way of cutlery used, and if on their own without me watching, tend to use their hands. It seems everyone under the age of forty is adept with the use of chopsticks.
ReplyDeleteI should correct my poor writing, but you get the gist.
DeleteEating etiquette is an interesting topic.
DeleteThe first different fork that came to my mind was 'tuning fork'. Quite a different usage. xx
ReplyDeleteThat didn't come to my mind, and neither did Red's fork-lift truck and Tigger', Mum's fork in the road. Once you start along these paths, you can go in many directions.
DeleteAh I often wondered why our American cousins used their forks in that way. Seems another hangover from Olde English.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, the influence we used to have on the world . . . long since gone.
DeleteAlthough I am right-handed I cannot eat 'properly' i.e. with my fork in my left hand. It feels utterly alien to me. I hold it in my right and don't swap it around.
ReplyDeleteI knew a child like that - see above. It's strange that more people don't feel as you do.
DeleteMy sister was right handed and yet she always held her knife in her left hand and her fork in her right.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever come across one child that did that. I wonder how it starts?
DeleteWe have four different types of forks in our cutlery drawer, the fourth being for fish, they are decades old, do they even sell fish forks anymore?
ReplyDeleteI gather that fish knives and forks are not used any more. I remember hearing on 'The Archers' years ago, through snobby Jennifer Archer, that fish knives and forks were no longer acceptable. I wonder why?
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading about forks, I now feel forked so I will fork off.
ReplyDelete😎
DeleteI didn't realise that forks had such a long history. I should have realised as they're so useful in all their guises.
ReplyDeleteThe designs vary, too. Some have two tines, others have three or four.
DeleteOn how fast the food consumption here is in america, totally depends on the person that's shoveling the food in as fast as they can. I've been in restaurants where it doesn't matter what hand they're using, the plate is clean in 5 minutes. The thing I've noticed when I go in stores that my silverware Forks are so much smaller than what they are packaging for sale these days. I guess the fatter we are over here the bigger the spoon and the forks have become. But I don't think our mouths actually gotten big enough for these giant utensils.
ReplyDelete'giant utensils' made me laugh.
DeleteThat's a lot of information about forks that I didn't know. Around here one fork seems to do the job of all of those.
ReplyDeleteI suspect most people make do with one. It's only at 'posh' dos that the cutlery is laid out in mesmerising style.
DeleteIn NJ there's a coastal town named Forked River. People from here pronounce it Fork'ed, two syllables. You can tell tourists, who ask for directions to Fork'd River, one syllable. Just sayin, in case you visit and want to fit in!
ReplyDeleteNot likely to visit, but useful to know. It's rather a shame when words are truncated.
DeleteI'm a Southpaw (left-handed) I use my lefthand to cut food with a knife, put the knife down and pick up my fork to eat with my left hand. As to speed, I'm the last one to sit down to eat and the first one to finish my meal.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and youngest daughter are Southpaws, too, but use cutlery conventionally. Don't sit next to my husband, though, because he will automatically reach for your glass.
ReplyDelete