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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ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting to read so much about history of folks
It's the differences between u that are so interesting.
DeleteAfter 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.
ReplyDeleteAnother slang term sometimes used...'fork it over.' Meaning to hand over something to another person.
ReplyDeleteI'm a left-hander who grew up in the UK but now lives in US (Brit mother, US father). I eat with a fork in my left hand--and as a commenter mentioned above--depending on the type of food--sometimes use my knife to push a small portion of food onto the back of my fork when eating. My fork always remains in the left hand...knife always in the right. Most of my British relatives used cutlery in the same manner. No one I know in the US does the same--even my children, but they are all right-handed. I always try to sit at the end of a dining table with no one to my left when eating with others. Otherwise it is a jab-fest. :)
Your comment about sitting at the end of the table reminded me that I always made sure left-handed children in my classes were seated to the left of right-handers. The world is not made for southpaws.
DeleteThank you for the explanation of the difference between American and British usage. I picture Henry VIII using his dagger to eat meat.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've seen that in films, too.
DeleteI had no idea at all that others might eat differently than I do. I don't travel so don't see other countries and even though we are huge I think most Americans use forks the same, but don't know for sure. this is a lot of info, interesting and will I retain it is The Question.... bob saw a woman in the pizza place eating here pizza with fork and knife and could not believe it. we eat pizza with our hands, also we eat french fried by dipping in casup with our fingers.. I had to stop and pretend I had meat to cut to remember what I do. I don't eat meat often. I spear it with fork in left hand, cut with knife in right and spear the small piece with fork in left hand and to the mouth even though we were raised that is not good manners...
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you were brought up to think it was good manners to swap your fork to your right hand. You eat the British way.
DeleteI'm right handed so I cut with the knife in my right hand and put the fork back in the right hand to eat.
ReplyDeleteThat's what we see on American programmes. It looks quaint to us Brits.
DeleteI always learn such interesting things from your blog posts and the comments of your readers. What a knowledgeable lot you are!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading comments, on other blogs, too.
DeleteIt happens to us that we were invited by Indian, North African friends and they asked us if we would prefer to eat with a fork or with our hands. We eat with knife and fork holding the knife in the right hand and the knife in the left. I know that the Americans first cut everything and then put the knife aside and eat only with the fork ! A News Paper here mentioned that Paris Hilton had no table manners !! Probably the Americans say the same for us. If you dress your table like it should be then you have so many forks, spoons ..... when I think that I got for each birthday a spoon or a knife for my for my wedding outfit! That always annoyed me terribly. Luckily I chose a model that is still modern today! To your question, yes the weather still gets on my nerves, it rains every day, I think it rains now more then in England which was famous for it's rain ! And it's always dark !
ReplyDeleteThe rule is to start at the outside and work your way in with the cutlery, but it is so unnecessary, I think.
DeleteThe beginning of 2025 has been particularly dark and damp - I hope it dries up and the sun shines soon.
Goodness ...I didn't realise that forks had such a long history.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
There is always a 'time before' though we don't always realise it.
DeleteVery interesting! You brought back great memories of toasting our crumpets on a coal fire. The customs from various parts of the world is fascinating, as your saying that the British brought our method of using the fork in our right hand. I didn’t know that and stuck with the way I was brought up for many years, but slowly I crossed the threshold and without realizing, it became second nature. Splendid post!
ReplyDeleteI suppose it was almost inevitable that you would adopt American ways! 😎
DeleteI sometimes use the left hand to hold the fork while cutting meat with the knife in the right, and then keeping the fork in the left hand to eat.
ReplyDeleteAnd other times I switch the fork to the right hand to eat.
I don't know why.
You're just a mixed-up kid! 🤣😂
DeleteI never questioned our American custom of cutting with the fork in the left hand and then switching to the right. But it does seem kind of a wasted motion, doesn't it. I know you don't want to think of plastic but I own a plastic spork (combination spoon and fork) and used to eat lunch with it in the work-in-office days.
ReplyDeleteThe spork is quite a useful device, really.
DeleteInteresting post. I was reading one of the comments about the right-handed sister that holds the knife in her left. I'm another one that does that. Don't know why. I've always done it. At my MIL's table I used to end up with all the other left-handers lol.
ReplyDeleteIt's intriguing, isn't it? Someone should do some proper research and write a book!
DeleteWho knew that the humble fork had such a fascinating history? xxx
ReplyDelete. . . and we take it so much for granted.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting post Janice. I'm right handed but hold a fork in my right hand. I love the set in your first image.
ReplyDeleteSo many variations on a fork and how it can be used.
ReplyDelete