Our ways of eating and our common trinity of knife, fork and spoon have only been in existence for a surprisingly short time. In fact, chopsticks and fingers still have a numerical advantage :)
Of course, precursors of knives, forks and spoons have existed since prehistoric times, but only to prepare the meal, not to eat it.
In the antique, people ate with their fingers, as they did in the middle ages. Many people had an all purpose knife with them, which they used to chop up their food. Wooden spoons were also common.
But where was the fork? In fact, the first mentioning of a fork dates from the year 1023. But even in 1518 Martin Luther exclaimed: "Gott behüte mich vor Gäbelchen!" (May God protect me from forks!) Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote in 1530: "What is served is to be taken up with three fingers or a piece of bread". Last not least, at his grand court in Versailles in the 17th century the "sun king" Louis XIV allegedly "seized the ragout with his paws".
Resistance against the fork came, interestingly, from the Catholic Church, the reason being that it was seen as an attribute of the Devil (the trident is actually the symbol of Neptune/Poseidon, but it is true that Satan is also often depicted wielding it). A funny argument was that God gave man the fingers, so use them! Still, in the course of the 17th century a minority started using forks, but that was seen as unmanly and finicky.
That was paradoxically also the reason for its breakthrough in the beginning of the 18th century. Suddenly it was elegant to use a fork, and the cutlery could not be ostentatious enough. By the latter half of the 19th century eating with knife and fork was common in all classes of society and a sign of civilization and culture.
The Bible tells us (somewhere, I'm sure) that spoons and forks did not "evolve" from anything. How could something so complex have merely evolved? Both are obviously the products of intelligent design, and were created by Almighty God six thousand years ago.
Also, "sporks" are unnatural, and an abomination unto the Lord! Utensils of Satan!
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 12:20 am (UTC)Our ways of eating and our common trinity of knife, fork and spoon have only been in existence for a surprisingly short time. In fact, chopsticks and fingers still have a numerical advantage :)
Of course, precursors of knives, forks and spoons have existed since prehistoric times, but only to prepare the meal, not to eat it.
In the antique, people ate with their fingers, as they did in the middle ages. Many people had an all purpose knife with them, which they used to chop up their food. Wooden spoons were also common.
But where was the fork? In fact, the first mentioning of a fork dates from the year 1023. But even in 1518 Martin Luther exclaimed: "Gott behüte mich vor Gäbelchen!" (May God protect me from forks!) Erasmus of Rotterdam wrote in 1530: "What is served is to be taken up with three fingers or a piece of bread". Last not least, at his grand court in Versailles in the 17th century the "sun king" Louis XIV allegedly "seized the ragout with his paws".
Resistance against the fork came, interestingly, from the Catholic Church, the reason being that it was seen as an attribute of the Devil (the trident is actually the symbol of Neptune/Poseidon, but it is true that Satan is also often depicted wielding it). A funny argument was that God gave man the fingers, so use them! Still, in the course of the 17th century a minority started using forks, but that was seen as unmanly and finicky.
That was paradoxically also the reason for its breakthrough in the beginning of the 18th century. Suddenly it was elegant to use a fork, and the cutlery could not be ostentatious enough. By the latter half of the 19th century eating with knife and fork was common in all classes of society and a sign of civilization and culture.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 12:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 02:33 am (UTC)Knives, while used as utensils, aren't only utensils, if that makes any sense.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 05:14 am (UTC)Also, "sporks" are unnatural, and an abomination unto the Lord! Utensils of Satan!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 09:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 10:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 03:55 pm (UTC)d.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 04:49 pm (UTC)Finally, we can get the olives at the bottom of the jar!