The word fork (English fork) comes from the Latin "fulka", which means garden pitchfork. The fork is currently the most popular and frequently used kitchen utensil. But few people know that all attempts to introduce the fork into use in the 17th century encountered stubborn resistance from the Church. The Catholic Church, called the fork "excessive luxury", and did not welcome its use - its use in the courts of monarchs was seen as godlessness or even a connection with the devil.

The fork rooted slowly. It was borrowed from the Venetians, who used it when eating fruit to keep the juice from staining their fingers. In France, a five-fingered fork was used for a long time. It was her that Montaigne meant when he said: "Sometimes I eat so hastily that I bite my fingers."

But let's go back a few centuries. The fork, as a cutlery, was familiar to the ancient Greeks. At that time, the forks were relatively large, had only two massive straight prongs, and served to distribute large chunks of meat to dishes. By the 7th century AD, in Asia Minor, the fork had become a symbol of wealth and power and was used by royal families during banquets. From the 10th century, forks spread to the territory of the Byzantine Empire, where such cutlery was also used only by aristocrats. From there, in the 11th century, the fork was brought to Venice by a Byzantine princess. However, in Italy, the fork was not used for a long time and only by the 16th century gained popularity. It is not difficult to guess that in the rest of Europe this necessary cutlery appeared only at the end of the 16th century. And spread only to the 18th.

The fork was brought to Russia from Poland in 1606 by False Dmitry I in the luggage of Marina Mnishek and was defiantly used during a feast in the Faceted Chamber of the Kremlin on the occasion of the marriage of False Dmitry with Marina. This caused an outburst of indignation among the boyars and the clergy, and served as one of the reasons for the preparation of Shuisky's conspiracy. As they say, the fork failed. She became a weighty argument proving to the common people the non-Russian origin of False Dmitry.

Traditionally, misfortune was attached to signs with a fork among the people - dropping the fork was considered the eve of misfortune, a bad omen. They spoke disapprovingly about the fork, as evidenced by the proverb: “With a spoon that is a net, and with a fork - like a milking”, that is, do not scoop anything.

Russia kept pace with the historical process in terms of forks. Even under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, as one European wrote in travel essays, “at dinner for each guest they put spoons and bread on the table, and a plate, knife and fork - only for honored guests.”

The son of Alexei Mikhailovich, Peter the Great, also contributed to the history of the fork in Russia. It was not without his help that the Russian aristocracy recognized the fork in the 18th century. The publication “Russian Starina” for 1824 contains information about how the table was set for Peter I: “A wooden spoon seasoned with ivory, a knife and fork with green bone handles were always placed at the device, and the orderly orderly was charged with the duty to carry them with you and put it in front of the king, even if he happened to dine at a party. Apparently, Peter was not sure that even in the “best houses” he would be served the entire set of cutlery.

Modern tables are served with appliances, among which there can be a dozen types of forks: ordinary and snack, for meat, fish, side dishes, two-pronged - large and smaller, used for cutting meat fibers, special for cutting lobsters, a fork complete with a knife for oysters, forks in combination with spatulas - for asparagus. All of them are of recent origin: XIX - early XX century. Books have been written about how to distinguish them and how to use them.

In the 19th century A new method of gilding and silvering metals was invented - electroplating. The firm "Christofle" (France) bought a patent for his invention from the author of the method, Count de Ruolz, and began to use electroforming in the production of cutlery. And since that time, a huge number of different forks, knives, spoons, spatulas and other beautiful, and most importantly functional table setting items have been developed and produced.
Today, in the production of cutlery, 18/10 steel is the main material. This is the most durable and durable material used even in medicine. Steel 18/10 serves as the basis for products with silver or gold plating.

Good spoons and forks should be at least 2.5 mm thick (measured at the end of the handle). There should be no sharp corners, such as between the tines of the forks. Everything should be smooth and fluid. In addition, an expensive fork can be immediately recognized by the presence of grooves at the base of the teeth, so that food is washed out more easily.

Despite all the variety of forks currently being manufactured, there are certain types, the purpose and method of use of which are determined:

	Lemon fork - for shifting lemon slices. Has two sharp teeth.
	Two-horned fork - for serving herring.
	Fork for sprats with a wide base in the form of a spatula and five teeth, to prevent deformation of the fish connected at the ends by a bridge. Designed for shifting canned fish.
	Fork for crabs, crayfish, shrimps. The fork is long with two prongs at the end.
	Fork for oysters, mussels and cold fish cocktails - one of the three prongs (left) is more powerful for easily separating the pulp of oysters and mussels from the shells.
	Lobster fork.
	Chill fork - for hot appetizers of fish. It has three teeth, shorter and wider than those of the dessert.
	A spaghetti fork is a five-pronged fork. Agree that if your spaghetti falls apart, flopping onto a plate, then such a fork can help: an extra prong will not be superfluous at all, supporting spaghetti.
	A salad fork is a large fork that looks more like a spoon, but with serrations. It is very convenient to gently mix the salad in a large dish.
	The olive fork is an interesting tool for holding a small olive.
	Meat fork ("tourchette"). It is used together with a meat knife for all dishes served with large heated meat plates for hot appetizers or main courses.
	Dessert fork. Put when serving breakfast, along with a dessert knife, with which most cold appetizers are served.
	Cake fork. For pastries, pastries and cakes served in cafes and pastry shops; used in the same way as a butter knife; size 15-16 cm.
	Fork for snails. Clamping the snail shell with tongs, which we hold in our left hand, we carefully pick up the snail with our right hand and send it entirely into the mouth, trying not to splash ourselves and not to splash others.

The history of the fork from ancient times to the present day.

Surprisingly, such a simple and familiar cutlery as a fork has a rich and very interesting history of origin. There is even mention of it on the pages of the Bible. The Jews used a fork-like device during religious ceremonies.
The age of the very first fork found during archaeological excavations is more than 3 thousand years. The appearance of the device, which belonged to the ancient Romans, differed from the modern one: it consisted of a handle with one prong at the end and was used to extract large pieces of meat from a common cauldron.
Single-pronged forks used in ancient China are considered to be the forerunners of modern Chinese chopsticks. Unlike Europeans, Asians did not prick food, but captured it with the help of similar devices.
The Byzantine princess Maria of Iverskaya contributed to the spread of the device around the world. It was she who in 1072 first introduced its mandatory use during the court meal. The fork belonging to the princess was made of gold, the handle was ivory, and the decorations shimmered with mother-of-pearl and pearls.
The progenitor of the fork in Europe is also called the wife of the Roman emperor Theophan. She disdained to eat with her hands and ordered to make an unusual device for that time - a fork with two cloves. Unfortunately, the woman did not live long, which was perceived by the official church as God's punishment for using the "hellish" subject.
Since the 17th century, the fork has firmly entered the everyday life of the Italian nobility. She already had the usual 4 cloves and a slight bend. In those distant times, such cutlery was considered an unprecedented luxury, used exclusively at court, by rich people, members of the royal court. Each guest present at the meal was supposed to bring personal appliances with them; there were no forks for guests.
The fork came to England only after 1600 thanks to the traveler Thomas Coryat. She did not gain much love and popularity. On the contrary, the use of gilded or silver cutlery was considered a sign of effeminacy and pampering. Forks were ridiculed and condemned in every possible way. The Church condemned their resemblance to the pitchfork, the devil's tool. It was only in 1860 that England began mass production of instruments.
In Russia, the fork was recognized around 1600. Marina Mnishek brought her to the royal court, which indescribably surprised and shocked the representatives of the clergy and boyars. Around 1650, forks were already served during the royal meal for especially close nobility and honored guests.
The 19th century was marked by new developments in the field of silverware. At this time, there are separate devices for fish, meat, snails, salads, lobsters, cheese, side dishes. At the beginning of the 20th century, precious metals were replaced by more durable and hygienic stainless steel.
A lot of interesting facts are connected with the history of the origin and distribution of the fork:
Until the moment of wide distribution, the fork was considered a luxury item, it was kept in treasuries, passed down by inheritance. The Queen of Hungary, Clementia, had a single golden fork, Charles V had several of them, the devices were decorated with a scattering of precious stones. The favorite of the King of England, Peter Galveston, was the proud owner of three forks designed for eating fruit.
The fork used at the wedding feast by Maria Mnishek and False Dmitry I provoked a popular uprising. For Russian peasants, an unusual object was proof of the foreign origin of the tsar.
The orderly of Peter I always had with him a set of royal cutlery: a spoon, a knife and a fork. The king used them during dinners and promoted distribution among the nobility.
The aluminum fork, served in canteens, became a symbol of Soviet catering and, in fact, weaned Russians from the widespread use of a spoon.
Monuments dedicated to the fork are installed in Springfield and New York, Vevey, Havana, Kyiv, Izhevsk.
Popular rumor associates omens and superstitions with the fork. A device that has fallen from the table promises uninvited guests, and presented as a gift - a quarrel.
There are many types of forks, from the common cutlery found in every home to special tools for eating olives and fondue. To understand this variety, instructions and guidelines designed specifically for food lovers help.

The first association that arises when pronouncing the word "fork" is a cutlery. Then other meanings are remembered, which are not so few. What is the meaning of this word and where did it come from in Russian? Let's try to answer these simple and at the same time entertaining questions using explanatory dictionaries and historical facts.

A fork is a small pitchfork

In a general sense, a fork is anything that has a branched shape, as a rule, in two directions. For example: fork in the road, thymus gland, forked tail of a swallow. By the way, the very first forks used to prick pieces of meat had only two prongs. The origin of the word "fork" is easy to explain. It is enough to imagine the tool with which the peasants collect and stack hay.

A fork is a diminutive form of the word fork. Initially, in Russia, cutlery of this type was called forks or slingshots, only by the middle of the 18th century the name familiar to modern man was attached to the fork. In turn, the word "fork" is formed from the verb "twist" by adding the suffix "l" to the root.

The history of the appearance of the fork in the ancient world

The first forks, according to historical documents, appeared in 1072 in Constantinople, thanks to Mary. It seemed humiliating to a high-ranking person to take food from a common dish with her hands. The court craftsmen made a cutlery with a long handle and two prongs for the capricious young lady. Some researchers believe that Princess Mary drew the sketches for creating the fork herself.

There is historical evidence that the prototypes of modern forks, only of very large sizes, were used in Ancient Greece to remove roasted carcasses of animals and birds from skewers. In the 7th century, more compact, but still inconvenient forks began to serve tables at the court of the Turkish Sultan. This innovation did not receive wide distribution.

In the countries of the Ancient East, the meaning of the word "fork" was known from the middle of the 9th century. It was then that two-pronged metal spears for piercing meat, vegetables and fruits appeared here. The straight shape without any bends did not allow the use of the fork in everyday meals. Therefore, this cutlery was forgotten until the XIV century. And today, most Eastern peoples have a custom to manage solid or loose dishes with their fingers.

An item of high culture and luxury

In Western Europe, a fork, a spoon and a knife became indispensable attributes of feasts at the beginning of the 17th century. Previously, fatty foods were simply taken with the hands, periodically washing the palms in special bowls. In wealthy families, it was customary to sit down at the table in gloves, which were thrown away at the end of the meal. Aristocrats preferred to carve meat or fish with two knives, one of which was designed to send pieces of food into the mouth.

With the advent of forks, the French king Charles V issued a decree forbidding representatives of the court nobility to eat from a knife in order to improve the culture of their subjects. Ordinary people considered forks to be luxury items and did not use them in everyday life. For a long time, forks were two-pronged, then tridented, and only in the 8th century in Germany they began to produce cutlery with four prongs.

The first forks in Russia

A cutlery similar to a modern fork was brought to Russia in 1606 and was first used during a feast at the wedding of the impostor False Dmitry the First and the Polish noblewoman Marina Mnishek. According to historical records, such behavior of royal people caused outrage not only among the common people, but also among the nobility. The "horned" fork was considered a devilish object.

Only in the XVIII century, the fork began to timidly enter into the everyday life of Russian nobles, thanks to the persistence of Peter I, who, as you know, adored everything European. In ordinary families, the fork remained a vicious, inconvenient and unnecessary object for a long time, while the spoon was the main tool for eating. Until the beginning of the 20th century, cutlery, objectionable to the common people, was used extremely rarely, after the Revolution, the fork, as they say, went to the masses.

Different forks are needed, all kinds of forks are important

In addition to the cutlery, the word "fork" can mean any other device that has a branching in its design.

The most famous combination is “plug ─ socket”. Every home today has household appliances, so the device at the end of the wire with two (or more) contacts, used to connect a refrigerator, TV, computer or vacuum cleaner to the electrical network, is familiar to each of us. The plug-socket pair is also used to create radio and telephone connections.

The clutch fork is a lever in a car's manual transmission designed to retract the pressure plate.

Knitting fork ─ the simplest device, consisting of two metal longitudinal rods and a pair of transverse plastic crossbars. The device is used for hand-knitting scarves and other garments with straight panels.

Fork for a bicycle, moped or motorcycle ─ a part in the front or rear of a two-wheeled vehicle that serves to fasten the wheels and is an element of steering.

Forks that cannot be touched

The word "fork" is often used in relation to some actions or processes that have a dual meaning.

A chess fork is a situation on a chessboard when two pieces of another player are attacked by a piece of one of the opponents. For example, a knight can target a king and a rook at the same time, a bishop can target a king and a queen, etc. This combination is also called a double strike.

In military affairs, a "fork" is a combat maneuver with deliberate shelling of the enemy from different sides without hitting the target. Thus, a group of people or equipment is deprived of the opportunity to move in the direction of the shelling.

It implies a situation when a player makes bets in different offices on all possible outcomes of a match in order to get a guaranteed win.

Folk superstitions related to forks

Despite the fact that the fork is a common item on our tables in everyday life, these cutlery is still not accepted by the Orthodox Church. Therefore, they cannot be used at memorial meals.

A fork that has fallen to the floor portends the arrival of an evil grumpy woman into the house.

In villages, housewives are wary of stirring sour cream with a fork or spreading butter on bread. It is believed that after that the cow may lose milk.

Who would have thought that fork history- a simple household item, created for centuries! It is known that in the 16th-18th centuries, the existing rules of good manners forbade taking meat from the plate with the whole five, especially with both hands. It was necessary to carefully use three fingers, in no case wiping them on clothes, but rinsing them in a bowl of water specially designed for this. There was a time when it became fashionable in rich European cities to eat with gloves so as not to get your hands dirty. After dinner, the gloves, of course, were thrown away, because they became unrealistically greasy and dirty. Strange, but forks already existed at that time. It is hard to even imagine that the noble beauties in the old portraits at the banquet tables if the fish and meat with their hands!

The very first forks in history had one sharp prong, later there were two. The ancient Romans used this special tool to extract pieces of meat from a brazier or cauldron. Yes, it's hard to call it a fork when you remember how the noble patricians ate meat, and the fat flowed down to their elbows in streams.

The Neapolitan National Museum keeps a fork that was found in the tomb of the ancient settlement of Paestum in southwestern Italy. Experts say that its age is more than two and a half millennia. In the 11th century, Peter Damiani, Bishop and Cardinal of Ostii, claimed that a princess from Venice introduced the fashion for using a fork during meals. Innovation did not stand still, spreading to other cities and countries. In 1379, the fork came to the French royal table during the reign of Charles V. In 1608 they were brought to England from Italy.

Toward the middle of the 16th century, forks came into use, which are already familiar to us. Small gilded, silver forks with expensive decorations have already acquired the proportions that exist today. They easily replaced the two knives used at the table by "cultured people." Forks were considered an item of sheer luxury and a sign of effeminacy, so many continued to take meat with their hands, not succumbing to a fashionable trend that even satyrs ridiculed.

In 1860, in England, they nevertheless established a large-scale production of cutlery, as well as quite normal small forks, which were made of silver and silver-plated metal. Only in 1920, stainless steel spoons, forks and knives conquered the whole world.

Part by part fork history Russia did not lag behind the whole of Europe, and even vice versa. During the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, forks for honored guests were already served at the table. His son, Peter the Great, also contributed to this historical process in Russia. In the 18th century, it was with his help that the entire Russian aristocracy learned about the fork. In the well-known publication “Russian Antiquity” for the period of 1824, it is written that the orderly on duty was obliged to carry a knife, spoon and fork with him, laying them out in front of the tsar, even if he had to dine at a party. This shows that Peter I doubted that even in the best houses he would be served all the necessary tableware.

The design of modern forks was formed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Snacks, regular, dessert, for meat, for fish and garnish, for cutting lobster and meat fibers, in special sets with a spatula or knife for oysters or asparagus ... Rules, how to use them and how to distinguish them - a whole lot of books have been written about this and articles. But that's another story.

Respectfully

P.S. Liked the article? I recommend ->> subscribe to receive the latest articles by e-mail<<- , чтобы не пропустить самые свежие вкусняшки!

The fork is perhaps the most mysterious of all cutlery. Some say that this is the youngest cutlery, others argue that forks were used in ancient times.

It is hard to imagine, but the Neapolitan National Museum is kept, found in one of the ancient graves. She is over two and a half thousand years old.

The exact time of the invention of the fork is not known. In some countries, it was known even in ancient times, although at that time it had only one prong (and whether it was a fork is still worth arguing). But the ancient Romans added another one to her. The only pity is that they used the fork only to pull out the meat that was being cooked in the cauldron. Then this meat was eaten without the help of appliances.

The ancient Romans and Greeks, talking about beauty, ate with their hands. The Roman poet Ovid taught them how to eat

fingertips and wipe them on bread after eating. Later in Greece, special gloves with hard tips were put on the hands.

Something similar to a modern fork, only with five, and sometimes more cloves, appeared in Asia in the 10th century. A hundred years later, this invention came to Europe, but the fork became widespread only by the 16th century: a sharp awl, with which they pricked food and ate, was replaced by a fork with two cloves.

There is evidence that the fork in Europe appeared and finally formed as a cutlery in enlightened times - at the end of the 11th century, and even has a completely exact date and place of birth. There is evidence that the fork was born in 1072

year in Byzantium in the city of Constantinople in the imperial palace. It was made in one copy of gold, and its handle was decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay on ivory. This fork was intended for the Byzantine princess Maria of Iberia, the widow of Emperor Michael Doukas. She can be safely considered the inventor of the fork - she herself invented it and ordered it, as an object of the imperial dignity, considering it humiliating for herself to eat with her hands.

After 100 years, the fork came from Byzantium to Italy, where it was first made in two copies - for the Venetian Doge and the Pope. A fork was made at that time with two prongs and was rather a kind of indicator of the prestige of the monarch, and not a cutlery at all. It was considered more convenient to eat with your hands or.

French kings began to eat with a fork for the first time, and not with their hands, only at the end of the 14th century. All attempts to introduce the fork into use ran into stubborn opposition from the Church. Several pamphlets were written against the fork, in which the fork was denounced as a vivid example of the corruption of morals, and its use in the courts of monarchs was considered as godlessness or even a connection with the devil.

In the pamphlet "Isle of Hermaphrodites", published at the end of the 16th century and directed against the minions of the French king Henry III, who adhered to non-traditional sexual orientation, it is said as something extraordinary that they never touched the meat with their hands, but used forks, "which no matter what the cost to them."

Nevertheless, the fork is beginning to win back its right to be a cutlery. The first mention of forks in Europe dates back to the 14th century: for example, there were several forks in the treasury of the Duke of Breton, John II. True, they ate not meat, but fruits or fried cheese.

Peter Galveston, a favorite of the English King Edward II, had 69 silver spoons and three forks with which he ate a pear.

In the inventory of the wealth of the Hungarian Queen Clementia for 1328, thirty spoons and one fork of gold are mentioned. From 1379, Charles V owned a number of gold forks with gem-encrusted handles, which were used for rare desserts served in the most sophisticated courts of the time.

The French Queen Jeanne d'Evreux left behind one fork, carefully packed in a chest, and 64 spoons.

The fork came to England at the beginning of the 17th century, but they began to use it constantly at court during the reign of Elizabeth, and at first it was believed that bringing food to the mouth with a fork, and not with hands -

queen privilege. The rest of the subjects did it with their hands, dressed in gloves. And only in 1860 in England mass production of cutlery was established.

By the end of the 18th century, in almost all European countries, a canteen with a sharp end gave way to a knife with a rounded blade. There was no longer any need to prick pieces of food on the knife, since this function was performed by the fork.

The Russian history of the fork begins in the 18th century. In the 17th century, even at the royal table, only a knife and a spoon were used. The cut off pieces were taken either by hand, or "whatever was more capable."

In Russia, the fork appeared in 1606, it is believed that Marina Mnishek brought it. At his wedding feast in

Kremlin Marina with a fork shocked the Russian boyars and clergy. This fork became almost a pretext for a popular uprising against False Dmitry. The argument was devastatingly simple: since the tsar and tsarina eat not with their hands, but with some kind of horn, it means that they are not Russians and not monarchs, but the product of the devil. Even the word fork itself finally entered the Russian language only in the 18th century, and until that time this item was called "horn" and "wilts".

The prejudice of the Russian people against the fork was long and lasting. But the Russian aristocracy, not without the help of Peter I, joined this cutlery as an element

luxury. The first forks had two prongs and were only owned by very wealthy people. At royal receptions, only especially distinguished guests put forks on the plates. Pyotr Alekseevich himself used the fork everywhere. His batman always carried a knife, fork and spoon with him, serving them to the king during the meal. The Russian people began to use the fork only in the 19th century.

Until the 20th century, in the broad masses of the people, the fork did not

was known, remaining the property of aristocrats and educated. The Russian people considered the fork inconvenient and unnecessary, as evidenced by the saying "A spoon is like a net, a fork is like a milking". The people were accustomed to the fork, in essence, by the Soviet government with its system of mass public canteens, where every visitor relied on an aluminum fork. Until now, superstitions reflect a wary attitude towards the fork - it is believed that it cannot be given as a sign of arrogance.

The fork is currently the most popular and frequently used kitchen utensil.