How did forks originate? The first man to use a crude kind of fork for eating probably lived thousands of years ago. But the everyday use of forks in dining is a very recent development in the history of man. The primitive savage used a small pronged twig as a kind of natural fork -to pick up his meat. Some authorities believe that the fork really originated with the arrow, and that at first it was a kind of toothpick used to remove food from between the teeth. Actual forks as we know them were first used only for cooking and for holding the meat while it was being carved. These first forks were long, and two-pronged, and were made of iron, bone, and hard wood. It took a very long time for forks to be accepted in general use in dining. Only 300 years ago, forks were great curiosities in Europe. In fact, in France everyone ate with his fingers until the 17th century. We all know about the magnificent Court of Louis XIV and the great banquets at his palaces. Did you know that no one used a fork at this very elegant Court! When people first began to use forks for eating, other people used to ridicule them as being too dainty. When a rich woman in Venice in the 11th century .had a small golden fork made, it was written about her: "Instead of eating like other people, she had her food cut up into little pieces, and ate the pieces by means of a two-pronged fork." Five hundred years later, in the 16th century, people who used forks in Venice were still being described as somewhat peculiar: "At Venice each person is served, besides his knife and spoon, with a fork to hold the meat while he cuts it, for they deem it ill manners that one should touch it with his hand." From the 17th century on, table manners developed along modem lines. Silver forks began to appear all over Italy. And by the end of the 18th century, the fork was accepted as a necessity in the homes of most cultivated people. For Details
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