Spoons
Spoons are one of the oldest eating utensils
on the planet. This isn’t particularly
surprising if one considers that nearly as
long as humans have needed food, they’ve
required something to scoop it up with.
Unlike knives and forks, that for the most
part needed to be fashioned, natural
spoons could be utilized by employing such
things as seashells or conveniently shaped
stones. Sure, the earliest known instances
of these didn’t have handles yet, but from
these humble beginnings, the spoon was
born.
There is no definitive time period that can
be attributed with the invention of the
spoon. And by ‘invention’ I of course mean
‘adding a handle made from some dead
animals bone.’ However, archaeological evidence
suggests that spoons with handles were used for
ancient Egyptian religious purposes as early as
1000 BC. Made from materials such as ivory,
wood, flint and slate, these spoons were covered
in ornate decorations and hieroglyphics.
When it came to actually consuming food, the
most common material at the time for spoons was
wood due to its availability and low cost.
However, during the Greek and Roman empires,
spoons made of bronze and silver were
commonplace among the wealthy. This remained
true up to and through the Middle Ages.
In fact, the first documented evidence of spoons
in England was in 1259 – it was counted as an
itinerary item from King Edward I’s wardrobe.
Similar to the Egyptians, spoons at this time
were not merely used for eating, but also in
ornate ceremonies and to demonstrate wealth
and power. For example, the coronation of every
British king was proceeded by a ritual where the
new monarch would be anointed by a ceremonial
spoon.
Spoons were granted even further importance
during the Tudor and Stuart periods when it
became customary to give an Apostle Spoon as a
christening gift. The particularly wealthy gave a
set of twelve of these spoons, and eventually a
thirteenth was added. This was called the
“Master Spoon”, as it bore the figure of Christ.
This practice gave birth to the tradition of
christening spoons and was prevalent
throughout all societal classes at the time. The
only difference was the material from which
these spoons were made – typically silver or gold
for the upper classes and copper or brass for the
lower.
The design of the spoon changed throughout the
Renaissance and Baroque periods before finally
receiving its current mostly standard look
around the 18th century. Since then, spoons
have continued to be a staple of modern tables
and come in a wide array of variations –
everything from soup to caviar spoons.

Forks
The most recent addition to the common cutlery club is the fork. Although they have technically
existed since ancient times, these preliminary
specimens consisted of a mere two prongs and
were used primarily for cooking and serving
food. Fingers, spoons and knives were still the
most popular choices when it came to actual
eating.
Some of the earliest known table forks made
their debut in Ancient Egypt. The Qijia culture
(2400-1900 BC) that resided in part of present
day China also are known to have used forks. A
couple thousand years later, the fork’s
popularity in the Western world spread via the
Silk Road into Venice.
One of the earliest recorded evidence of forks in
Venice is from an 11th century story of the the
wedding of a Byzantine princess, Theodora Anna
Doukaina, to Domenico Selvo. She supposedly
brought gold forks as part of her dowry.
Apparently it was quite the scandal. The God
fearing Venetians saw these pronged
monstrosities as a slight against The Lord
himself who gave us perfectly good fingers to eat
with. I can’t make this stuff up:
"God in his wisdom has provided man with
natural forks – his fingers. Therefore it is an
insult to Him to substitute artificial metallic
forks for them when eating. -St. Peter Damian"
Of course, in the Book of I Samuel (2:13)-
thought to have been composed around 640-540
BC- it states that Jewish priests’ assistants used
forks:
And the priests’ custom with the people was,
that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s
servant came, while the flesh was in seething,
with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand…
Such trivial mentions as usage in the Holy
scriptures by none other than the priests’
servants themselves didn’t stop many religious
elite from vilifying the fork and poor Theodora.
(They also didn’t like that she used napkins,
among other things.)
When the princess died two years later of a
mysterious degenerative disease, it was
considered by some to be punishment for her
pride and perceived excesses. What the fork?
Despite being mentioned as OK to use in the
Hebrew Bible, forks in the Western world
continued to carry this negative stigma due to
their association with Eastern decadence and
being perceived as an affront to God. They were
subsequently strictly reserved for sticky food.
The fork’s popularity began to grow during the
16th century due to the infamous historical
trend setter Catherine de Medici. She helped
popularize the fork (as well as pasta, olive oil,
chianti and the separation of sweet and
savoury) with the French tables after her
marriage to Henry II. At this time, anything
Italian was in vogue thanks to the Renaissance.
The fork also became more popular as hygiene
ideals began to change. Up until this point,
purposely clogging one’s pores with dirt to
prevent the plague infiltrating through them
was considered a good idea. ( Similar thought
processes were largely why bathing was
uncommon during Medieval times - you don’t
want disease filled water getting in your pours!)
Many people also preferred to blow their noses
directly into their hands instead of onto the
tablecloth, as that would be bad manners. Now,
imagine these same people eating with their
hands.
Naturally, the fork began to seem increasingly
attractive to those who preferred their food to be
free of filth. However, many men still rejected
them as they were considered too feminine. This
began to alter when they began to be crafted
with ruffled cuffs…. This might seem strange to
us, but let’s not forget that high heels were
originally invented for men, who also commonly
wore tights with them …
By the 18th century, curved forks with tines
were increasingly used in order to defeat food
such as peas. People would also carry around
their own personal cutlery sets, though forks
were still primarily used by the upper classes.
It wasn’t until a hundred years later during the
Industrialization period that the lower and
middle classes began commonly using forks also.
Commoners even began to be able to afford to
have entire cutlery sets to offer guests – some
even matched!
Forks quickly surpassed knives as the most
popular cutlery item which resulted in the
Victorians creating an overabundance of fork
varietals. You can thank them next time you’re
spearing some juicy lobster meat with one.
Since then, the fork has remained a staple in
Western society.

Knives

Knives have dually been utilized as both a
weapon and an eating implement since
prehistoric times. This is quite logical – you kill
your food and then cut it into conveniently sized
pieces with one handy tool. However, knives
weren’t domesticated or fashioned exclusively
for table use until the Bourbon Dynasty in
France. Up until this point, they were typically
incredibly sharp due to their aforementioned use
in killing one’s food.
As such, the presence of knives at a table posed
a constant threat. It’s important to remember
that this was also an age where a significant
source of hydration came from wine and ale.
Therefore, it wasn’t uncommon for the
particularly inebriated to accidentally puncture
their mouths whilst trying to eat their food.
Of course, when forks began gaining in
popularity during the Middle Ages, this resulted
in less of a need for a pointed knife during meal
times. As such, in 1669, Louis XIV- the same guy
who loved doing up his hair and wearing tights
and high heels as was the manly fashion at the
time- made these overly sharp knives illegal at
the table and replaced them with blunter /
wider ones. This has for the most part remained
the norm up until the present day, though the
standardized stainless steel variety weren’t
introduced until around the 20th century.