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{{short description|Eating utensil}}

{{otheruses}}

{{other uses|Fork (disambiguation)|Forks (disambiguation)}}

[[Image:assorted_forks.jpg|right|thumb|Assorted forks. From left to right: dessert fork, relish fork, salad fork, dinner fork, cold cuts fork, serving fork, carving fork.]]

{{pp-protected|small=yes}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}

As a piece of [[cutlery]] or [[kitchenware]], a '''fork''' is a tool consisting of a handle with several narrow [[Tine (structural)|tines]] (usually two to four) on one end. The fork is sometimes referred to as the "king of [[utensil]]s."{{fact}} The table fork used as an eating utensil was a feature primarily of the West, whereas in East Asia [[chopsticks]] were more prevalent. Today, however, forks are increasingly available throughout [[East Asia]] as well.

[[File:Assorted forks.jpg|thumb|From left to right: dessert fork, relish fork, salad fork, dinner fork, cold cuts fork, serving fork, carving fork]]

In [[cutlery]] or [[kitchenware]], a '''fork''' (from {{langx|la|furca}} '[[pitchfork]]') is a [[Eating utensil|utensil]], now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved [[tine (structural)|tines]] with which one can spear foods either to hold them to cut with a [[Table knife|knife]] or to lift them to the mouth.

The utensil (usually [[metal]]) is used to lift [[food]] to the [[mouth]] or to hold food in place while cooking or cutting it. Food can be lifted either by spearing it on the tines, or by collecting it on top of the tines, and holding it atop the tines horizontally. To allow for this spoon-like use the tines are often curved slightly upward.

==History==

Bone forks have been found in archaeological sites of the [[Bronze Age]] [[Qijia culture]] (2400–1900 BC), the [[Shang dynasty]] (c. 1600–c. 1050 BC), as well as later Chinese dynasties.<ref name=need6V>Needham (2000). ''Science and Civilisation in China. Volume 6: Biology and biological technology. Part V: Fermentations and food science.'' Cambridge University Press. Pages 105–110.</ref> A stone carving from an [[Eastern Han]] tomb (in Ta-kua-liang, Suide County, Shaanxi) depicts three hanging two-pronged forks in a dining scene.<ref name=need6V/> Similar forks have also been depicted on top of a stove in a scene at another Eastern Han tomb (in Suide County, Shaanxi).<ref name=need6V/>

In [[Ancient Egypt]], large forks were used as cooking utensils.<ref name="leitesculinaria">{{cite web | url=http://leitesculinaria.com/1157/writings-the-uncommon-origins-of-the-common-fork.html | title=The Uncommon Origins of the Common Fork | publisher=Leite's Culinaria | author=Ward, Chad | date=6 May 2009}}</ref>

It is a commonly believed myth that the table fork was introduced to West during the [[Middle Ages]], as the Romans used forks for serving.

In the [[Roman Empire]], [[bronze]] and silver forks were used, many surviving examples of which are displayed in museums around Europe.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguedetail.html?&priref=70534&_function_=xslt&_limit_=10 |title=Fitzwilliam Museum – A combination Roman eating implement |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207064108/http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguedetail.html?&priref=70534&_function_=xslt&_limit_=10 |archive-date=7 December 2008 }}</ref><ref>Sherlock, D. (1988) A combination Roman eating implement (1988). Antiquaries Journal [comments: 310–311, pl. xlix]</ref> Use varied according to local customs, social class, and the type of food, but in earlier periods forks were mostly used as cooking and serving utensils.

Before the fork was introduced, many Westerners were reliant on the [[spoon]] and [[knife]] as the only eating [[utensils]]. Thus, people would largely eat food with their hands, calling for a common spoon when required. Members of the aristocracy would sometimes be accustomed to manners considered more proper and hold two knives at meals and use them both to cut and transfer food to the mouth.

[[File:Forks Susa Louvre MAO421-422-431.jpg|250px|thumb|Bronze forks made in [[Persia]] during the 8th or 9th century]]

The fork was introduced in the [[Middle East]] before the year [[1000]]. The earliest forks usually had only two tines, but those with numerous tines caught on quickly. The tines on these implements were straight, meaning the fork could only be used for spearing food and not for scooping it. The fork allowed meat to be easily held in place while being cut. The fork also allowed one to spike a piece of meat and shake off any undesired excess of sauce or liquid before consuming it. First introduced to Europe in the [[10th century]] by [[Theophanu]], Byzantine wife of Emperor [[Otto II]], the table fork had, by the [[11th century]] made its way to [[Italy]]. In Italy it became quite popular by the [[14th century]], being commonly used for eating by merchant and upper classes by [[1600]]. It was quite proper for a guest to arrive with their own fork and spoon enclosed in a box called a ''cadena''; this usage was introduced to the French court with [[Catherine de' Medici]]'s entourage. Long after the personal table fork had become commonplace in France, at the supper celebrating the marriage of the [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|duc de Chartres]] to Louis XIV's natural daughter in 1692, the seating was described in the court memoirs of [[Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon|Saint-Simon]]:"[[James II of England|King James]] having his Queen on his right hand and the [[Louis XIV of France|King]] on his left, and each with their cadenas." In [[Charles Perrault|Perrault]]'s contemporaneous fairy tale of ''[[Sleeping Beauty|La Belle au bois dormant]]'' (1697), each of the fairies invited for the christening is presented with a splendid ''cadena''.

Although its origin may go back to [[Ancient Greece]], the personal table fork was most likely invented in the [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern Roman]] (''Byzantine'') Empire, where they were in common use by the 4th century.<ref name="Ancient inventions">{{cite book|title=Ancient inventions |author1=James, Peter |author2=Thorpe, Nick |author3=Thorpe, I. J. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmJLd3sSYecC | publisher=Ballantine Books | year= 1995 |page=305|isbn=978-0-345-40102-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Firsts: Origins of Everyday Things that Changed the World |isbn=978-1-59257-924-2 |author=Casey, Wilson |publisher=Penguin |year=2009 |edition=F }}</ref>

Records show that by the 9th century in some elite circles of Persia a similar utensil known as a ''barjyn'' was in limited use.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Mediterranean Feast: The Story of the Birth of the Celebrated Cuisines of the Mediterranean from the Merchants of Venice to the Barbary Corsairs, with More than 500 Recipes |author=Wright, Clifford A. |publisher=William Morrow Cookbooks |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-688-15305-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mediterraneanfea00wrig/page/82 82] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mediterraneanfea00wrig/page/82 }}</ref> By the 10th century, the table fork was in common use throughout the Middle East.<ref name="leitesculinaria"/>

Chronographers mention the astonishment that the Byzantine princess [[Theophanu]] caused to the court of the Holy Roman Empire, where she married [[Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Otto II]]), because she was using a fork instead of her hands when she was eating.<ref>{{cite web |title=The history of the fork |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/history-fork |website=Royal Museum Greenwich |publisher=National Maritime Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kelly |first1=Thomas Forrest |title=The Role of the Scroll: An Illustrated Introduction to Scrolls in the Middle Ages |date=April 30, 2019 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393285031 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jD1kDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

In addition, according to [[Peter Damian]], the Byzantine princess [[Maria Argyropoulina]] brought some golden forks to Venice, when she married [[Giovanni Orseolo]], the son of the [[Doge of Venice|Doge]] [[Pietro II Orseolo]] in 1004. Damian condemned the fork as "vanity".<ref>[https://www.books.fr/fourchette-bonnes-manieres/ Amandine Meunier, "Fourchette et bonnes manières", Books n° 86, novembre / décembre 2017, Books.fr]</ref> The same story (with Maria Argyropoulina) was mistakenly said about the Byzantine princess [[Theodora Doukaina Selvo|Theodora Doukaina]] who came to Venice to marry the Doge [[Domenico Selvo]] and was confused with Maria Argyropoulina by later authors.<ref>{{Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations|pages=46–47}}</ref>

By the 11th century, the table fork had become increasingly prevalent in the [[Italian peninsula]] because of historical ties with the Eastern Roman Empire and, as [[pasta]] became a greater part of the Italian diet, continued to gain popularity, displacing the long wooden spike formerly used since the fork's three spikes proved better suited to gathering the noodles.<ref name=Rebora2013>{{cite book |last=Rebora |first=Giovanni |title=Culture of the Fork: A Brief History of Everyday Food and Haute Cuisine in Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRs2ObI7ozoC&pg=PA14 |year=2013 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51845-1 |pages=14–18}}</ref>{{sfn|Wilson|2012}} By the 14th century the table fork had become commonplace in Italy, and by 1600 was almost universal among the merchant and upper classes. It was proper for a guest to arrive with his own fork and [[spoon]] enclosed in a box called a ''cadena''; this usage was introduced to the French court with [[Catherine de' Medici]]'s entourage.

The fork's arrival in northern Europe was more difficult. Its use was first described in English by [[Thomas Coryat]] in a volume of writings on his Italian travels (1611), but for many years it was viewed as an unmanly Italian affectation. Some writers of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] expressly disapproved of its use, seeing it as "excessive delicacy": "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."<ref>[http://www.maybe.org/~rodmur/sca/fork.html A History of the Table Fork]</ref><ref>[http://www.geocities.com/rationalargumentator/Dining_Etiquette.html The Irrational Exhuberance of American Dining Etiquette]</ref> It was not until the [[18th century]] that the fork became commonly used in [[Great Britain]]. It was around this time that the curved fork used today was developed in [[Germany]]. The standard four-tine design became current in the early nineteenth century.

Although in Portugal forks were first used around 1450 by [[Infanta Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu]], King [[Manuel I of Portugal]]'s mother,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cm-loures.pt/Agenda_out11_PMes.asp |title=Livro de Cozinha da Infanta D. Maria |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130071645/http://www.cm-loures.pt/Agenda_out11_PMes.asp |archive-date=30 November 2011 }}</ref> only by the 16th century, when they had become part of Italian [[etiquette]], did forks enter into common use in southwestern Europe,<ref>{{cite book |author=Rautman, Marcus Louis |title=Daily life in the Byzantine Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hs3iEyVRHKsC |publisher=Greenwood |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-313-32437-6 |page=47}}</ref> gaining some currency in Spain,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hospitalityguild.com/History/Table_Forks_of_the_Medieval%26Renaissance.htm |title=Table Forks of the Medieval & Renaissance Period |publisher=The International Guild of Hospitality & Restaurant Managers |access-date=8 December 2011 |archive-date=20 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220225742/http://www.hospitalityguild.com/History/Table_Forks_of_the_Medieval%26Renaissance.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and gradually spreading to France. The rest of Europe did not adopt the fork until the 18th century.<ref name="Ancient inventions"/>

[[File:History spoon.jpg|right|230px|thumb|[[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] silver fork (4th century)]]

The fork's adoption in [[northern Europe]] was slower. Its use was first described in English by [[Thomas Coryat]] in a volume of writings on his Italian travels (1611), but for many years it was viewed as an unmanly Italian affectation.{{sfn |Petroski |1992 |pp=8−9}} Some writers of the Roman Catholic Church expressly disapproved of its use; [[St. Peter Damian]] seeing it as "excessive delicacy".{{sfn|Wilson|2012}} It was not until the 18th century that the fork became commonly used in Great Britain,<ref>{{citation|author=Charing Worh|title=Types of Cutlery in the UK|url=http://www.charingworth.net/GB/shop/about-charingworth-cutlery.html|access-date=24 March 2014|year=2014|publisher=Charing Worth|archive-date=24 March 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140324075857/http://www.charingworth.net/GB/shop/about-charingworth-cutlery.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{not in citation|date=October 2024}} although some sources say that forks were common in France, England and Sweden already by the early 17th century.<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/research/knife-fork-and-spoon-woi/ bookrags.com]. bookrags.com (2 November 2010). {{tertiary|date=April 2023}}</ref>{{better|date=October 2024}}<ref>{{cite web|author=Anette Rasmsson |url=http://www.popularhistoria.se/o.o.i.s?id=170&vid=707 |title=popularhistoria.se at archive.org |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100731165816/http://www.popularhistoria.se/o.o.i.s?id=170&vid=707|access-date=2019-02-06|archive-date = 31 July 2010}}</ref>{{dubious|reason=Unreliable sources cited for the 17th century assertion|date=January 2015}}

The fork did not become popular in North America until near the time of the [[American Revolution]].<ref name="leitesculinaria"/> The four-tine design became current in the early 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink|last=Mariani|first=John F.|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2014|___location=London, UK|via=Credo Reference}}</ref>

The 19th century also saw the emergence of the "[[spork]]" (also called a "runcible"), a utensil that is half fork and half spoon. With this new fork-spoon, only one piece of cutlery is needed when eating (so long as no knife is required). The back of the spork is shaped like a spoon and can scoop food while the front has a few tines like a fork to poke at food substance, making it convenient and easy to use. It has found popularity in [[fast food]] and [[military]] settings.

== See also ==

*[[Fork etiquette]]

*[[Table setting]]

*[[Bike Fork]]

==Types of forks==

[[File:Ice cream fork, Shreve & Company, Iris service, silver, 1903-1917.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|An ice cream fork from the early 20th century]]

[[File:old carving knife and forks.JPG|thumb|Carving knife and carving forks. Note folding fork guards.<ref>[http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general-archive/ot-whats-do-carving-fork-doodad-92420/ what's this do? carving fork doodad - practicalmachinist.com]</ref>]]

[[File:Tranchergaffel, 1640-tal - Skoklosters slott - 102831.tif|thumb|Carving fork from 1640]]

[[File:Pastry fork IMG 0899.jpg|thumb|Right handed pastry fork with widened left tine]]

[[File:Currywurst forks.jpg|thumb|Two-pronged wooden chip forks]]

*[[Bread fork]]: A fork designed for serving bread from a basket or tray.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O59288/bread-fork-harrison-fisher-and/ |title=Bread Fork |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021 |website=Victoria and Albert Museum |access-date=December 12, 2021}}</ref>

*'''Beef fork'''

* [[Carving fork]]: A two-pronged fork used to hold meat steady while it is being [[meat carving|carved]]. They are often sold with carving knives or slicers as part of a carving set.

* [[Chip fork]]: A two-pronged disposable fork, usually made of wood or plastic, designed for the eating of [[french fries]] (chips), currywurst and other greasy or sauce-covered takeaway foods. Chip forks range from {{cvt|7.5 to 9|cm}} long. In Germany they are called {{lang|de|Pommesgabel}} (literally 'chip fork') or ''currywurst forks''.

* Cocktail fork: A small fork resembling a trident, used for spearing cocktail garnishes such as olives.

* [[Crab fork]]: A short, sharp and narrow three-pronged or two-pronged fork designed to easily extract meat when consuming cooked crab.

* [[Pastry fork|Dessert fork]] (alternatively, pudding fork/cake fork in [[British English]]): Any of several different special types of forks designed to eat desserts, such as a pastry fork. They usually have only three tines and are smaller than standard dinner forks. The leftmost tine may be widened so as to provide an edge with which to cut (though it is never sharpened).

* Dinner fork

* [[Fondue]] fork: A narrow fork, usually having two tines, long shaft and an insulating handle, typically of wood, for dipping bread into a pot containing sauce

* Ice cream fork: A spoon with flat tines used for some desserts. See [[spork]].

* [[Knork]]

* [[Lemon fork]] for the tea service{{sfn | Von Drachenfels | 2000 | p=387}}

* Pickle fork: A long handled fork used for extracting pickles from a jar. The fork has an overall length of {{convert|5.5 to 8|in}} and two or three narrow [[Tine (structural)|tines]].{{sfn | Von Drachenfels | 2000 | p=214}}

* [[Salad fork]]: Can be a shorter version of a regular fork, older versions have one of the outer tines made stronger, similar to the pastry fork, in order to cut [[lettuce]].{{sfn|Schollander|Schollander|2002|p=69}} Often, a "salad fork" in the silverware service of some restaurants (especially chains) may be simply a second fork; conversely, some restaurants may omit it, offering only one fork in their service.

* Spaghetti fork: A [[Novelty item|novelty]] fork with a metal shaft loosely fitted inside a hollow plastic handle. The shaft protrudes through the top of the handle, ending in a crank, that allows the metal part of the fork to be easily rotated with one hand while the other hand is holding the plastic handle. This supposedly allows [[spaghetti]] to be easily wound onto the tines. Electric variations of this fork have become more prevalent in modern times.

* [[Sporf]]: A utensil combining characteristics of a spoon, a fork and a knife

* [[Spork]]: A utensil combining characteristics of a spoon and a fork.

* [[Sucket]] fork: A utensil with tines at one end of the stem and a spoon at the other. It was used to eat food that would otherwise be messy to eat such as items preserved in syrup. The tine end could spear the item, while the other end could be used to spoon the syrup.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-history-fork-729.html|title=A Short History of the Fork - The Art of the Table|work=foodreference.com}}</ref>

* [[Terrapin fork]]: A specialized spoon-fork for eating [[terrapin]] dishes, a predecessor of the [[spork]].

* [[Toasting fork]]: A fork, usually having two tines, very long metal shaft and sometimes an insulating handle, for toasting food over coals or an open flame.

==See also==

:A fork used for picking up very thin slices of meat. This fork is shaped like a regular fork, but it slightly bigger and the tines are curved outward. The curves are used for piercing the thin sliced beef.

* [[Fork etiquette]]

* [[Knife]]

* [[Spoon]]

* [[Spork]]

* [[Table setting]]

==References==

*berry fork

{{Reflist}}

*cheese fork

*[[carving fork]]

*cold meat fork

*pitch fork

==Further reading==

*'''Dessert fork'''

*{{citation |last=Petroski |first=Henry |title=The evolution of useful things|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |___location=New York |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-6797-4039-1}}

:Any of several different special types of forks designed to eat desserts, such as a pastry fork. They usually have only three tines and are smaller than standard dinner forks.

* {{cite book | last=Von Drachenfels | first=Susanne | title=The Art of the Table: A Complete Guide to Table Setting, Table Manners, and Tableware | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-684-84732-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6xaJWJFe1QC&pg=PA214 | access-date=2023-10-07}}

* {{cite book |last=Schollander |first=Wendell |last2=Schollander |first2=Wes |title=Forgotten Elegance: The Art, Artifacts, and Peculiar History of Victorian and Edwardian Entertaining in America |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-313-31685-2 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Forgotten_Elegance/pLDuAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2025-07-03}}

* {{cite journal | last=Sherlock | first=David | title=Roman Forks | journal=Archaeological Journal | volume=164 | issue=1 | date=2007 | issn=0066-5983 | doi=10.1080/00665983.2007.11020711 | pages=249–267}}

* {{cite book | last=Wilson | first=B. | title=Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat | publisher=Basic Books | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-465-02176-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUvvH6KccRQC | access-date=2024-06-05}}

==External links==

*Dinner fork

{{Commons}}

{{Wiktionary}}

* [http://www.larsdatter.com/cutlery.htm Cutlery of the Middle Ages and Renaissance] Forks from the Greco-Roman era to the 17th century

[[Image:fishfork.png|right|40px|thumbnail|Fish fork]]

*'''Fish fork'''

:A fork designed for eating fish.

*Fondue fork

*[[Knork]]

*Meat fork

*Olive fork

*Oyster fork

*[[Pastry fork]]

*Pickle fork

*Relish fork

*Salad fork

*[[Spork]]

*Tea fork

*Pitch Fork

==References==

<references/>

* A history of the evolution of fork design can be found in: Henry Petroski, ''The Evolution of Useful things'' (1992); ISBN 0-679-74039-2

==External links==

{{Commons|Fork}}

* [http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/food/dishes.htm An example of a Roman fork]

{{Spoken Wikipedia|fork.ogg|2006-05-10}}

{{Spoken Wikipedia|fork.ogg|date=2006-05-10}}

[[Category:Forks|*]]

[[Category:Eating utensils]]

[[be:Відэлец]]

[[caCategory:ForquillaForks| ]]

[[Category:Ancient Egyptian technology]]

[[cs:Vidlička]]

[[Category:Ancient Roman technology]]

[[da:Gaffel (bestik)]]

[[Category:Chinese inventions]]

[[de:Essbesteck#Gabel]]

[[es:Tenedor]]

[[eo:Forko]]

[[eu:Sardexka]]

[[fr:Fourchette]]

[[io:Forketo]]

[[id:Garpu]]

[[it:Forchetta]]

[[he:מזלג]]

[[nl:Vork (bestek)]]

[[ja:フォーク (食器)]]

[[no:Gaffel]]

[[nn:Gaffel]]

[[oc:Forqueta]]

[[ug:تىرنا]]

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[[ru:Вилка (столовая)]]

[[simple:Fork]]

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[[sv:Gaffel (bestick)]]

[[tr:Çatal]]