Editing Fork (section)

==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>

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.

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