Dining Utensils

Dining Utensils

Prehistoric Diners used sharp stones, some made sharper by chipping to cut food. Coastal Tribes spent shells. A needle attached to a shell company with a longer range and protection against heat food, and hollowed horns of sheep and goats were used for the storage of liquids, all of which might have been the beginning of the spoon. 

   

But human beings are born with very useful tools built-in table at the end of our arms! 

   

Fingers:

   

People have always eaten with the fingers, which can be messy, but effective. And even before Emily Post or Miss Manners had a proper way to use your fingers at mealtimes. In the middle of the 1500s, it was plain, refined people ate with only the first three fingers, thus clearly separating the lower classes, having used all five from the upper class. 

   

Erasmus, Dutch humanist and author of the first modern book of manners in 1526, was among the first worried table manners. He insisted that Diners never lick their fingers or wipe them on their coats. It was better, according to Erasmus, wipe your fingers on the tablecloth, a custom which, unfortunately, some people observe today. 

   

Chopsticks:

   

Chopsticks, two long thin sticks, was developed as early as the 3rd BC in China. The Chinese word for such tools meant "quick them," or "quick sticks," as the English translation was "chopsticks." 

   

It is possible that chopsticks were developed when people cooked their food in large pots which retained heat well, and hasty eating bread branches from trees to get food. 

   

By 400 BC, a large population and dwindling resources forced people to save fuel. The food was chopped into small pieces so it could be cooked quickly, and thus use less fuel. 

   

Although the Chinese had a food tradition, believing that it was uncivilized to serve food that resembled the original animal and rough to cut a carcass at the table. The Chinese saw that inappropriate chord out of sight in the kitchen and serving food already diced and sliced, ready to eat, so there was no need for knives and forks at a Chinese dinner. 

   

Confucius may have influenced the Chinese kitchen utensils selection with his nonviolent philosophy and avoid knives at the dinner table. 

   

Knives: 

   

Knives have been used as weapons, tools, and table tools since prehistoric times. Since hosts do not provide cutlery for their guests during the Middle Ages in Europe, most people carried their own knives in sheaths attached to their belts. These knives were narrow and strong peak was used to spear food and then take it up to a foot. 

   

Table knives were introduced around 1600, but long after knives were adopted for the chicks, they continued to be used as weapons. Thus, the multifunctional nature of the knife is always associated with a possible risk of danger at the dinner table. 

   

The grinding down with knife points led to other design changes. Cutler began to make blunt ends of knives broader and rounder, so any food which fell between the two tines of a fork could be piled on the knife. Actually, there were many knives designed with a handle like a pistol grip and a blade which curved backward so the wrist would not be contorted to get food into their mouths. 

   

SPOONS:

   

Spoons have been used as eating implements since Paleolithic times. It is most likely that prehistoric peoples used shells or chips of wood as spoons. The English word "spoon" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "sponsors", which means a chip or splinter of wood, and the Latin word for spoon is derived from the "snail", meaning a spiral-shaped snail shell. 

   

In the 1st century CE, the Romans designed two types of spoons. The first, a ligula, was used for soups and soft foods. It had a pointed oval bowl and a handle ending in a decorative design. The second style with spoon had a Cochlear a small spoon with a round bowl and a pointed, slender handle eating shellfish and eggs. The earliest English spoons probably modeled after these two types of spoons because of the Roman occupation of Britain from 43 to 410 CE. 

   

In medieval times, usually spoons made of wood or horn was supplied by the dinner hosts. Royalty often had spoons made of gold and non-royal wealthy families owned silver spoons. Beginning in the 14th century, spoons made of tinned iron, brass, tin and other metals were common. Use of tin, which is specially made spoons more affordable for the general public. 

   

The modern style spoon dates to the 18th century. 

   

FORKS:

   

The word "fork" comes from the Latin "furca" and the old English "Forca". Small forks are used to eat first appeared in Tuscany in the 11th century, but they were still a rarity in Italy in the 14th century. 

   

Kitchen forks trace their origins back to the time of the Greeks. These forks were fairly large with two tines that aided in cutting and serving of meat. The teeth prevent meat from twisting or moving during carving and gave food to slide down easier than it would with a knife.

 

Small, slender-handled forks with two tines were generally used for sweet, sticky foods, or foods such as berries, which could be expected to stain the fingers. By mid-1600's, eat with forks were considered fashionable among wealthy British. Forks used solely to eat were luxuries and thus markers of social status and sophistication among the nobility. The upper classes of Spain were also use forks in the 16th century. 

   

Early table forks were modeled after kitchen forks, two long distance and much better ensure that the meat would not twist while cutting. This style of board was carefully designed, but small pieces of food regularly fell through fingers or slid down easily. 

   

As forks become more common implements at the table in the early 17th century and was used to hold food steady while cutting, and transporting food to the mouth, it is less need for knives to be made with pointed tips. They start to get boring eventually. 

   

In the late 17th century in France was a major fork with four curved tines developed. The extra teeth made diners are less likely to drop food, and the curved tines served as a scoop so people did not have to constantly switch to a spoon while eating. By the early 19th century, multi-tined forks were also developed in Germany and England and slowly began to spread to America. 

Napkins 

   

Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used "napkins" serviettes size bath towels. In the 1700s it was acceptable at the table to use serviette also wipe all tools, as well as sticky fingers and lips. Maybe someone got tired of washing all the major tissues, when people were asked only to wipe their fingers on a hunk of bread. Since the use of forks instead of fingers become less popular large napkins were needed and they were smaller.