![Assorted forks](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Assorted_forks.jpg)
In
cutlery
Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...
or
kitchenware :'' For a record label, see Kitchenware Records''
Kitchenware are the tools, utensils, appliances, dishes, and cookware used in food preparation, or the serving of food. Kitchenware can also be used in order to hold or store food before or aft ...
, a fork (from la, furca '
pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved
tines
Tines (; also spelled tynes), prongs or teeth are parallel or branching spikes forming parts of a tool or natural object. They are used to spear, hook, move or otherwise act on other objects. They may be made of metal, wood, bone or other hard, ...
with which one can spear foods either to hold them to cut with a
knife
A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...
or to lift them to the mouth.
History
![Forks Susa Louvre MAO421-422-431](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Forks_Susa_Louvre_MAO421-422-431.jpg)
Bone forks have been found in archaeological sites of the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
Qijia culture
The Qijia culture (2200 BC – 1600 BC) was an early Bronze Age culture distributed around the upper Yellow River region of Gansu (centered in Lanzhou) and eastern Qinghai, China. It is regarded as one of the earliest bronze cultures in China.
T ...
(2400–1900 BC), the
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...
(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
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
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.]
In the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
, bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
and silver forks were used, many surviving examples of which are displayed in museums around Europe. 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.
Although its origin may go back to Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
, the personal table fork was most likely invented in the Eastern Roman
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
(''Byzantine'') Empire, where they were in common use by the 4th century.
Records show that by the 9th century in some elite circles of Persia a similar utensil known as a ''barjyn'' was in limited use. By the 10th century, the table fork was in common use throughout the Middle East.
Chronographers mention the astonishment that the Byzantine princess Theophanu
Theophanu (; also ''Theophania'', ''Theophana'', or ''Theophano''; Medieval Greek ; AD 955 15 June 991) was empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage to Emperor Otto II, and regent of the Empire during the minority of their son, Emperor Ott ...
caused to the westerners, because she was using a fork instead of her hands when she was eating (she moved to the west because she married the Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
Otto II
Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. ...
).
In addition, according to Peter Damian
Peter Damian ( la, Petrus Damianus; it, Pietro or '; – 21 or 22 February 1072 or 1073) was a reforming Benedictine monk and cardinal in the circle of Pope Leo IX. Dante placed him in one of the highest circles of '' Paradiso'' ...
, the Byzantine princess Maria Argyropoulina
Maria Argyra (also Argyre or Argyropoulina) ( el, Μαρία Ἀργυρή or Ἀργυροπουλίνα; died 1007), of the Argyros family, was the granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor Romanos II, niece of the emperors Basil II and Constantine ...
brought some golden forks to Venice, when she married Giovanni Orseolo
Giovanni Orseolo (981-1006/7) was the first Venetian to hold power in Dalmatia, holding the title of ''Dux Dalmatiae''.
History
Giovanni's father Pietro II Orseolo was the Doge of Venice, and his mother was Maria Candiano.
In 1000 he was sent to ...
, the son of the Doge
A doge ( , ; plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as " crowned republics".
Etymology
The ...
Pietro II Orseolo
Pietro II Orseolo (961−1009) was the Doge of Venice from 991 to 1009.
He began the period of eastern expansion of Venice that lasted for the better part of 500 years. He secured his influence in the Dalmatian Romanized settlements from the Croa ...
in 1004. Damian condemned the fork as "vanity". The same story (with Maria Argyropoulina) was said about the Byzantine princess Theodora Doukaina who came to Venice to marry the Doge Domenico Selvo
Domenico Selvo (died 1087) was the 31st Doge of Venice, serving from 1071 to 1084. During his reign as Doge, his domestic policies, the alliances that he forged, and the battles that the Venetian military won and lost laid the foundations for m ...
and used forks at the meals.
By the 11th century, the table fork had become increasingly prevalent in the Italian peninsula before other European regions because of historical ties with Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...
and, as pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...
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.[Wilson, Bee. Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat. New York: Basic, 2012. Print.] 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
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for ...
enclosed in a box called a ''cadena''; this usage was introduced to the French court with Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...
's entourage.
Although in Portugal forks were first used around 1450 by Infanta Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu
Infanta Beatriz of Portugal (13 June 1430 – 30 September 1506) was a Portuguese infanta, daughter of John, Constable of Portugal (fourth son of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster) and Isabella of Barcelos a daughter of ...
, King Manuel I of Portugal
Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, a ...
's mother, only by the 16th century, when they had become part of Italian etiquette
Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...
, did forks enter into common use in Southern Europe
Southern Europe is the southern regions of Europe, region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countrie ...
, gaining some currency in Spain, and gradually spreading to France. The rest of Europe did not adopt the fork until the 18th century.
The fork's adoption in northern Europe was slower. Its use was first described in English by Thomas Coryat
Thomas Coryat (also Coryate) (c. 15771617) was an English traveller and writer of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean age. He is principally remembered for two volumes of writings he left regarding his travels, often on foot, through ...
in a volume of writings on his Italian travels (1611), but for many years it was viewed as an unmanly Italian affectation. Some writers of the Roman Catholic Church expressly disapproved of its use; St. Peter Damian seeing it as "excessive delicacy". It was not until the 18th century that the fork became commonly used in Great Britain, although some sources say that forks were common in France, England and Sweden already by the early 17th century.
The fork did not become popular in North America until near the time of the American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. The standard four-tine design became current in the early 19th century.
Types of fork
left, upright=0.5, An ice cream fork from the early 20th century
Carving knife and carving forks.
Note folding fork guards.
Carving fork from 1640.
Two-pronged wooden chip forks.
* Asparagus fork
* Barbecue fork
* Beef fork: A fork used for picking up meat. This fork is shaped like a regular fork, but it is slightly bigger and the tines are curved outward. The curves are used for piercing the thin sliced beef.
* Berry fork
*Bread Fork: A fork designed for serving bread from a basket or tray.
* Carving fork: A two-pronged fork used to hold meat steady while it is being carved
Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...
. They are often sold with carving knives or slicers as part of a carving set.
* Cheese fork
* Chip fork: A two-pronged disposable fork, usually made out of sterile wood (though increasingly of plastic), specifically designed for the eating of french fries
French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...
(chips) and other takeaway foods. From 7.5 to 9 cm long. In Germany they are known as ''Pommesgabel'' (literally "chip fork") and " currywurst fork".
* Cocktail fork: A small fork resembling a trident, used for spearing cocktail garnishes such as olives.
* Cold meat fork
* Crab fork: A short, sharp and narrow three-pronged or two-pronged fork designed to easily extract meat when consuming cooked crab.
* Dessert fork
A pastry fork, pie fork or cake fork is a fork designed for eating pastries
Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries ...
(alternatively, pudding fork/cake fork in Great Britain): 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
* Extension fork: A long-tined fork with a telescopic handle, allowing for its extension or contraction.
* Fish fork
* Fondue
Fondue (, , ) is a Swiss melted cheese dish served in a communal pot ( ''caquelon'' or fondue pot) over a portable stove () heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. It was promote ...
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
* Fruit salad fork: A fork used which is used to pick up pieces of fruit such as grapes, strawberries, melon and other varies types of fruit.
* Granny fork
* Ice cream fork: A spoon with flat tines used for some desserts. See spork
A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four fork-like tines. Its name is a portmanteau of spoon and fork. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manuf ...
.
* Knork
A variety of eating utensils have been used by people to aid eating when dining. Most societies traditionally use bowls or dishes to contain food to be eaten, but while some use their hands to deliver this food to their mouths, others have deve ...
* Meat fork
* Olive fork
* Oyster fork
* Pastry fork
A pastry fork, pie fork or cake fork is a fork designed for eating pastries and other desserts from a plate. The fork has three or four tines. The three-tine fork has a larger, flattened and beveled tine on the side while the four-tine fork has t ...
* Pickle fork: A long handled fork used for extracting pickles from a jar, or an alternative name for a ball joint
In an automobile, ball joints are spherical bearings that connect the control arms to the steering knuckles, and are used on virtually every automobile made. They bionically resemble the ball-and-socket joints found in most tetrapod animals. ...
separator tool used to unseat a ball joint.
* Pie fork
* Relish fork
* 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.
* Sardine fork
* Spaghetti fork: A novelty
Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...
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
Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.[spaghetti](_blank)
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridg ...
to be easily wound onto the tines. Electric variations of this fork have become more prevalent in modern times.
* Sporf
A variety of eating utensils have been used by people to aid eating when dining. Most societies traditionally use bowls or dishes to contain food to be eaten, but while some use their hands to deliver this food to their mouths, others have deve ...
: A utensil combining characteristics of a spoon, a fork and a knife
* Spork
A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four fork-like tines. Its name is a portmanteau of spoon and fork. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manuf ...
: A utensil combining characteristics of a spoon and a fork.
* Sucket Sucket was a kind of confectionary or dessert popular in early modern England. The word is related to succade, a kind of dried fruit.
The dish was a sweetmeat involving sugar plums and dried fruit in thick syrup flavoured with ginger and other spic ...
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.
* Tea fork
* Terrapin fork: A spoon with flat tines used for some soups. See spork
A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four fork-like tines. Its name is a portmanteau of spoon and fork. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manuf ...
.
* Toasting fork
A toasting fork is a long-handled fork used to brown and toast food such as bread, cheese, and apples by holding the pronged end in front of an open fire or other heat source. It can also be used to toast marshmallows, broil hot dogs, and he ...
: A fork, usually having two tines, very long metal shaft and sometimes an insulating handle, for toasting food over coals or an open flame.
See also
* Fork etiquette
Various customary etiquette practices exist regarding the placement and use of eating utensils in social settings. These practices vary from culture to culture. Fork etiquette, for example, differs in Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia ...
* Knife
A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...
* Spoon
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for ...
* Spork
A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four fork-like tines. Its name is a portmanteau of spoon and fork. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manuf ...
* Table setting
Table setting (laying a table) or place setting refers to the way to set a table with tableware—such as eating utensils and for serving and eating. The arrangement for a single diner is called a place setting. It is also the layout in which th ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
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
Eating utensils
Ancient Egyptian technology
Ancient Roman technology
Chinese inventions