WHEN DID WE FIRST START USING FORKS?
By Robert J. Tinsky - Copyright 2008

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� � � � � � � � � � � When I was a student in college my English professor gave us an assignment to write an essay on any subject we chose.� For some strange reason I decided to write about the history of eating and drinking utensils.� That essay has been long gone and I don’t remember what grade I got on that paper.� But I do remember that I learned some fascinating information about forks.

� � � � � � � � � � � � Forks are mentioned in the Bible a few times but they bore no resemblance to our modern dinner forks.� Instead they were three pronged forks more like our modern pitchforks. � A three pronged fork was used to arrange the meat on the altar of sacrifice and to lift the priest’s portion from the vessel in which it was cooked.� We also read about “winnowing forks” used to separate the wheat from the chaff.�

� � � � � � � � � � � � Before our modern forks were invented people used their fingers to eat many things that were part of their meals.� There were some interesting rules of etiquette for aristocrats.� Table manners required the diners to use only three fingers to touch their food.� The ring finger was not to be used.

� � � � � � � � � � � � Eating utensils similar to our modern forks were first used by people in Turkey around 400 A. D.� It was not until the 7th century, however, that forks were very widely used.� Even then they were only used in Middle Eastern countries and by very wealthy people.

� � � � � � � � � � � � Forks were not used in Europe until the 10th century but were not widely accepted until the 17th century.� The first European countries to use them were Italy and France.� When forks were first introduced it was the custom for people to have their own fork and knife which they carried with them in a special box called a cadena whenever they were invited to a dinner party.

� � � � � � � � � � � � When forks were introduced into England women used them but the men thought they it was too sissy to substitute the use of fingers with metallic instruments.

� � � � � � � � � � � � When forks were first introduced there were clergymen that railed against them.� They said that God gave us fingers and that the use of forks was an insult to God.� We should not be surprised at this since there have been clergymen down through the ages that have objected to various modern inventions.� I have in my file a copy of a sermon preached years ago by a well known radio preacher in which he said it was wrong for man to try to go to the moon since God only intended for mankind to have dominion over the earth.

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � Early forks only had two tines.� It was not until the 16th century that a third tine was added.� This may have been to replicate the custom of using only three fingers.� A fourth tine was later added by an Italian named Gennaro Spadaccine. � He also gave it the rounded shape our modern forks have today.

� � � � � � � � � � � � As late as the 18th century many people did not know how to use a fork.� It was not until the 19th century when it became possible to mass produce forks that they became widely used.� �

� � � � � � � � � � � � So next time you tell your kids to use their forks instead of their fingers just remember that fingers were not only invented a long time before forks but were also used for a long time before forks were even thought of. � On second thought, you might not want your children to read this.� � � � �

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I'm sure you just been sitting out there wondering when we first started using forks, so I thought I would let my friend, Bob Tinsky, tell us all about that subject. THANKS BOB! THE WORDWRIGHT