91: Knives, spoons, and forks

Ever wondered where cutlery came from? Or how it came to be? 

Once made of rock, and wood, now can be made of one plastic combination; Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you one of the most under appreciated inventions of all times: the knife, the spoon, and the fork (and I believe that this is the only entry on the list that contains 3 items that are related).

Knives are the oldest utensils in the cutlery arsenal. The knife is known to have been around since cavemen and women. The Knife was used for killing and made an easy transition for cutting meat and tough veggies sitting around the cave, the hearth, or the royal dinning table. It was fashioned out of stone and tied to sticks. Then during the iron age they were made of metal, much into the shape that it is today; a long pointed piece of metal with a rise in the edge. The Knife to royalty was being used much like the fork. The point of the knife was used to left meat to the mouth. The abundance of knives on the royal table were not out of place. During King Louis the XIV the knife was removed by Cardinal Richelieu. He told King Louis that he felt nervous with all the knives laying around. And then the fork was introduced even further through royalty of Western Europe.

The Fork

The fork has been around for at least a 1000 years. the Egyptians are the first to have any record of using the utensil. Actually, it was the Egyptians that appreciated flatware! Buried in the tombs of the wealthy, scientist have found flatware made of gold and decorated. However, the fork did not gain any popularity until the courts of royalty of Europe began to using them. Catherine da Medici was recorded to use the fork at her wedding reception which fell flat on her guest. It was not until Cardinal Richelieu that the fork finally took its place on the dinning room table. The fork cured a few problems: it replaced the knife (which makes paranoid monarchies even more suspicious of their guest), it also picked up other foods. the fork has not lost its shape as well. It has long prongs sharp enough to be stuck in meat. The prongs are not long making it ideal not to be used in assassination attempts at the dinning room table or stab an unruly family member. It was the spoon, however, added versatility in the kitchen as well at the dinning room table.

The Spoon

The spoon is the best out of the three because it really did solve a simple problem: how to eat hot liquid foods. It did not take long before the first man and woman to figure out that humans cannot hold hot liquids with their hands to eat it. The first spoons were contrived from shells. they had the perfect shape for dipping. They were tied to a stick and then used as well. The shell was perfect but what if there were no shells? Man and woman figured out how to fashion spoons from rock and wood. The rock and wood would be carved into bowls  and much like shells, then tied to sticks. When the Bronze Age came around, just like knives, spoons were being pressed from metals. The spoon has not lost its shape and it is much like the same as the shell on a stick. 

Why is flatware important? It helped civilize the world. Like any style or fashion it begins at the top and then filters down to the masses. Just like any other other invention,it took years and years for the knife, fork, and spoon to make it to most tables. Because most people were poor, they would eat with their hands until flatware was inexpensive to afford. During the renaissance an increase of flatware was being bought and sold.