fork

Bone forks have been found in archaeological sites of the Bronze Age Qijia culture (2400–1900 BC), the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1050 BC), as well as later Chinese dynasties.Needham (2000). Science and Civilisation in China. Volume 6: Biology and biological technology. Part V: Fermentations and food science. Cambridge University Press. Pages 105–110. A stone carving from an Eastern Han tomb (in Ta-kua-liang, Suide County, Shaanxi) depicts three hanging two-pronged forks in a dining scene. Similar forks have also been depicted on top of a stove in a scene at another Eastern Han tomb (in Suide County, Shaanxi).

In Ancient Egypt, large forks were used as cooking utensils.{{cite web | url=http://leitesculinaria.com/1157/writings-the-uncommon-origins-of-the-common-fork.html | title=The Uncommon Origins of the Common Fork | publisher=Leite's Culinaria | author=Ward, Chad | date=6 May 2009}}

In the Roman Empire, bronze and silver forks were used, many surviving examples of which are displayed in museums around Europe.{{cite web |url=http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguedetail.html?&priref=70534&_function_=xslt&_limit_=10 |title=Fitzwilliam Museum – A combination Roman eating implement |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207064108/http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguedetail.html?&priref=70534&_function_=xslt&_limit_=10 |archive-date=7 December 2008 }}Sherlock, D. (1988) A combination Roman eating implement (1988). Antiquaries Journal [comments: 310–311, pl. xlix] Use varied according to local customs, social class, and the type of food, but in earlier periods forks were mostly used as cooking and serving utensils.

File:Forks Susa Louvre MAO421-422-431.jpg during the 8th or 9th century]]

Although its origin may go back to Ancient Greece, the personal table fork was most likely invented in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, where they were in common use by the 4th century.{{cite book|title=Ancient inventions |author1=James, Peter |author2=Thorpe, Nick |author3=Thorpe, I. J. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmJLd3sSYecC | publisher=Ballantine Books | year= 1995 |page=305|isbn=978-0-345-40102-1}}{{cite book |title=Firsts: Origins of Everyday Things that Changed the World |isbn=978-1-59257-924-2 |author=Casey, Wilson |publisher=Penguin |year=2009 |edition=F }}

Records show that by the 9th century in some elite circles of Persia a similar utensil known as a barjyn was in limited use.{{cite book |title=A Mediterranean Feast: The Story of the Birth of the Celebrated Cuisines of the Mediterranean from the Merchants of Venice to the Barbary Corsairs, with More than 500 Recipes |author=Wright, Clifford A. |publisher=William Morrow Cookbooks |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-688-15305-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mediterraneanfea00wrig/page/82 82] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mediterraneanfea00wrig/page/82 }} By the 10th century, the table fork was in common use throughout the Middle East.

Chronographers mention the astonishment that the Byzantine princess Theophanu caused to the court of the Holy Roman Empire, where she married Emperor Otto II), because she was using a fork instead of her hands when she was eating.{{cite web |title=The history of the fork |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/history-fork |website=Royal Museum Greenwich |publisher=National Maritime Museum}}{{cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Thomas Forrest |title=The Role of the Scroll: An Illustrated Introduction to Scrolls in the Middle Ages |date=April 30, 2019 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393285031 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jD1kDwAAQBAJ}}

In addition, according to Peter Damian, the Byzantine princess Maria Argyropoulina brought some golden forks to Venice, when she married Giovanni Orseolo, the son of the Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 1004. Damian condemned the fork as "vanity".[https://www.books.fr/fourchette-bonnes-manieres/ Amandine Meunier, "Fourchette et bonnes manières", Books n° 86, novembre / décembre 2017, Books.fr] The same story (with Maria Argyropoulina) was mistakenly said about the Byzantine princess Theodora Doukaina who came to Venice to marry the Doge Domenico Selvo and was confused with Maria Argyropoulina by later authors.{{Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations|pages=46–47}}

By the 11th century, the table fork had become increasingly prevalent in the Italian peninsula because of historical ties with the Eastern Roman Empire and, as pasta became a greater part of the Italian diet, continued to gain popularity, displacing the long wooden spike formerly used since the fork's three spikes proved better suited to gathering the noodles.{{cite book |last=Rebora |first=Giovanni |title=Culture of the Fork: A Brief History of Everyday Food and Haute Cuisine in Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRs2ObI7ozoC&pg=PA14 |year=2013 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51845-1 |pages=14–18}}{{sfn|Wilson|2012}} By the 14th century the table fork had become commonplace in Italy, and by 1600 was almost universal among the merchant and upper classes. It was proper for a guest to arrive with his own fork and spoon enclosed in a box called a cadena; this usage was introduced to the French court with Catherine de' Medici's entourage.

Although in Portugal forks were first used around 1450 by Infanta Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu, King Manuel I of Portugal's mother,{{cite web |url=http://www.cm-loures.pt/Agenda_out11_PMes.asp |title=Livro de Cozinha da Infanta D. Maria |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130071645/http://www.cm-loures.pt/Agenda_out11_PMes.asp |archive-date=30 November 2011 }} only by the 16th century, when they had become part of Italian etiquette, did forks enter into common use in southwestern Europe,{{cite book |author=Rautman, Marcus Louis |title=Daily life in the Byzantine Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hs3iEyVRHKsC |publisher=Greenwood |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-313-32437-6 |page=47}} gaining some currency in Spain,{{cite web |url=http://www.hospitalityguild.com/History/Table_Forks_of_the_Medieval%26Renaissance.htm |title=Table Forks of the Medieval & Renaissance Period |publisher=The International Guild of Hospitality & Restaurant Managers |access-date=8 December 2011 |archive-date=20 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220225742/http://www.hospitalityguild.com/History/Table_Forks_of_the_Medieval%26Renaissance.htm |url-status=dead }} and gradually spreading to France. The rest of Europe did not adopt the fork until the 18th century.

File:History spoon.jpg silver fork (4th century)]]

The fork's adoption in northern Europe was slower. Its use was first described in English by Thomas Coryat in a volume of writings on his Italian travels (1611), but for many years it was viewed as an unmanly Italian affectation.{{sfn |Petroski |1992 |pp=8−9}} Some writers of the Roman Catholic Church expressly disapproved of its use; St. Peter Damian seeing it as "excessive delicacy".{{sfn|Wilson|2012}} It was not until the 18th century that the fork became commonly used in Great Britain,{{citation|author=Charing Worh|title=Types of Cutlery in the UK|url=http://www.charingworth.net/GB/shop/about-charingworth-cutlery.html|access-date=24 March 2014|year=2014|publisher=Charing Worth|archive-date=24 March 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140324075857/http://www.charingworth.net/GB/shop/about-charingworth-cutlery.html|url-status=dead}}{{not in citation|date=October 2024}} although some sources say that forks were common in France, England and Sweden already by the early 17th century.[http://www.bookrags.com/research/knife-fork-and-spoon-woi/ bookrags.com]. bookrags.com (2 November 2010). {{tertiary|date=April 2023}}{{better|date=October 2024}}{{cite web|author=Anette Rasmsson |url=http://www.popularhistoria.se/o.o.i.s?id=170&vid=707 |title=popularhistoria.se at archive.org |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100731165816/http://www.popularhistoria.se/o.o.i.s?id=170&vid=707|access-date=2019-02-06|archive-date = 31 July 2010}}{{dubious|reason=Unreliable sources cited for the 17th century assertion|date=January 2015}}

The fork did not become popular in North America until near the time of the American Revolution. The four-tine design became current in the early 19th century.{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink|last=Mariani|first=John F.|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2014|location=London, UK|via=Credo Reference}}

File:Ice cream fork, Shreve & Company, Iris service, silver, 1903-1917.jpg

File:old carving knife and forks.JPG

File:Tranchergaffel, 1640-tal - Skoklosters slott - 102831.tif

File:Pastry fork IMG 0899.jpg

File:Currywurst forks.jpg

• Bread fork: A fork designed for serving bread from a basket or tray.{{cite web |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O59288/bread-fork-harrison-fisher-and/ |title=Bread Fork |author= |date=2021 |website=Victoria and Albert Museum |access-date=December 12, 2021}}
• Carving fork: A two-pronged fork used to hold meat steady while it is being carved. They are often sold with carving knives or slicers as part of a carving set.
• Chip fork: A two-pronged disposable fork, usually made of wood or plastic, designed for the eating of french fries (chips), currywurst and other greasy or sauce-covered takeaway foods. Chip forks range from {{cvt|7.5 to 9|cm}} long. In Germany they are called {{lang|de|Pommesgabel}} (literally 'chip fork') or currywurst forks.
• Cocktail fork: A small fork resembling a trident, used for spearing cocktail garnishes such as olives.
• Crab fork: A short, sharp and narrow three-pronged or two-pronged fork designed to easily extract meat when consuming cooked crab.
• Dessert fork (alternatively, pudding fork/cake fork in British English): Any of several different special types of forks designed to eat desserts, such as a pastry fork. They usually have only three tines and are smaller than standard dinner forks. The leftmost tine may be widened so as to provide an edge with which to cut (though it is never sharpened).
• Dinner fork
• Fondue fork: A narrow fork, usually having two tines, long shaft and an insulating handle, typically of wood, for dipping bread into a pot containing sauce
• Ice cream fork: A spoon with flat tines used for some desserts. See spork.
• Knork
• Lemon fork for the tea service{{sfn | Von Drachenfels | 2000 | p=387}}
• Pickle fork: A long handled fork used for extracting pickles from a jar. The fork has an overall length of {{convert|5.5 to 8|in}} and two or three narrow tines.{{sfn | Von Drachenfels | 2000 | p=214}}
• Salad fork: Similar to a regular fork, but may be shorter, or have one of the outer tines shaped differently. Often, a "salad fork" in the silverware service of some restaurants (especially chains) may be simply a second fork; conversely, some restaurants may omit it, offering only one fork in their service.
• Spaghetti fork: A novelty fork with a metal shaft loosely fitted inside a hollow plastic handle. The shaft protrudes through the top of the handle, ending in a crank, that allows the metal part of the fork to be easily rotated with one hand while the other hand is holding the plastic handle. This supposedly allows spaghetti to be easily wound onto the tines. Electric variations of this fork have become more prevalent in modern times.
• Sporf: A utensil combining characteristics of a spoon, a fork and a knife
• Spork: A utensil combining characteristics of a spoon and a fork.
• Sucket fork: A utensil with tines at one end of the stem and a spoon at the other. It was used to eat food that would otherwise be messy to eat such as items preserved in syrup. The tine end could spear the item, while the other end could be used to spoon the syrup.{{cite web|url=http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-history-fork-729.html|title=A Short History of the Fork - The Art of the Table|work=foodreference.com}}
• Terrapin fork: A spoon with flat tines used for some soups. See spork.
• Toasting fork: A fork, usually having two tines, very long metal shaft and sometimes an insulating handle, for toasting food over coals or an open flame.

• Fork etiquette
• Knife
• Spoon
• Spork
• Table setting

{{Reflist}}

• {{citation |last=Petroski |first=Henry |title=The evolution of useful things|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-6797-4039-1}}
• {{cite book | last=Von Drachenfels | first=Susanne | title=The Art of the Table: A Complete Guide to Table Setting, Table Manners, and Tableware | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-684-84732-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6xaJWJFe1QC&pg=PA214 | access-date=2023-10-07}}
• {{cite journal | last=Sherlock | first=David | title=Roman Forks | journal=Archaeological Journal | volume=164 | issue=1 | date=2007 | issn=0066-5983 | doi=10.1080/00665983.2007.11020711 | pages=249–267}}
• {{cite book | last=Wilson | first=B. | title=Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat | publisher=Basic Books | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-465-02176-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUvvH6KccRQC | access-date=2024-06-05}}

{{Commons}}

{{Wiktionary}}

• [http://www.larsdatter.com/cutlery.htm Cutlery of the Middle Ages and Renaissance] Forks from the Greco-Roman era to the 17th century

{{Spoken Wikipedia|fork.ogg|date=2006-05-10}}

Category:Eating utensils

Category:Ancient Egyptian technology

Category:Ancient Roman technology

Category:Chinese inventions