When the Fork First Evolved

Selection of early types of forks. Originating in Africa and the Middle East, and considered truly an oddity at first, forks slowly grew popular in royal European courts. Books on courtly manners and courtly customs were also being written and more frequently read, though most of the European public was oblivious to them. Silver utensils of all sorts, along with specialized tableware, was created for the wealthy, upper classes. Many travelers carried their utensils with them, either in cased sets or as foldable articles. 
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We must wait 4,000 years before we find the fork. Or, as a French writer on table etiquette has said, “from the creation of the world to the beginning of the seventeenth century, man ate only with his fingers.” This is, however, a mistake of 400 years…
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Table Manners… How They Have Evoluted (sic) Out of Savage Customs

How did table manners arise? Where do they come from? Like Topsy and other human institutions, “they just growed.” And it is surprising how slow of development has been the sentiment of cleanliness and neatness which was the principal cause of the invention of the implements and dishes used in serving food and eating.

In good old paleolithic times, when human beings were always within 24 hours of starvation, man ate only with his fingers. He hunted for his food in the woods or by the seashore, and he picked the bones clean. Two table articles are found among uncivilized people – the knife and the spoon. The knife was originally a weapon of attack and defense. It was used for cutting and carving flesh, but its convenience in eating soon became apparent.

The origin of the spoon is uncertain. It must have been invented at a very ancient date, for it is found among people that have never come into contact with civilization. The necessity of having some implement for dipping water seems to have led first to the invention of the calabash or the use of the cocoanut shell and later on to the spoon.

We must wait 4,000 years before we find the fork. Or, as a French writer on table etiquette has said, “from the creation of the world to the beginning of the seventeenth century, man ate only with his fingers.” This is, however, a mistake of 400 years, for we find forks as early as the thirteenth century, when they are mentioned as being kept for special purposes. Thus John, Duke of Brittany, is said to have used a fork to pick up “soppys,” and Piers Graveston had three for eating pears with.– Lee J. Vance in Lippincott's, 1895

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia