The (not so) humble fork – simple to use and been around forever, or has it?
The fork was only introduced into Europe, from the East, as late as C10th by, Theophanu, the wife of Byzantine Emperor Otto 2nd and spread throughout Italy until it was popularised and widespread some 400 years later, when dinner guests would bring their own special knife and fork with them to social events.
However, as has occurred numerous times throughout our history and up to the present day, Britons were suspicious of our European neighbours’ customs, taking the attitude that they could ‘fork off’ with their unnecessary fancy and rather effeminate practices, with even the Roman Catholic Church branding them as excessive and an insult to God, when we had fingers for the lickin’ (and grabbing).
Eventually, in the C18th, forks ( the Germany four-pronged variety, no doubt, in no small part, to our German monarchs that century) began to catch on in Britain (though not without competition from the Earl of Sandwich’s fiendish new fast-food trend). Early forks only had two or three prongs (‘tines’), so were good for securing meat in the competitive, communal, atmosphere of a pub but no good for scooping or soup. Up to this time a communal attitude to eating was still common, where diners would share a communal spoon, thus the introduction of the individual fork led to an increase in standards of hygiene.
From then on, forks have enjoyed a wide-range of adaptations: the spork (like a mythical Greek creature, half spoon, half fork) was invented as early as C19th and has been popular with Scouts, Guides and the Military ever since and, no doubt, further innovations will evolve (eg from the existing battery powered version that automatically winds spaghetti onto itself).
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