Buck Conner1
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Here’s something that Hanshi has always questioned and thought others may be interested too.
When the fork was first introduced to the dining table in early North America, it caused controversy. Fast forward nearly four centuries later, and the small-pronged utensil still causes international arguments over dining etiquette.
On June 25, 1633, when Governor John Winthrop, a founding father of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, took out a fork, then known as a “split spoon,” at the dinner table, the utensil was dubbed “evil” by the clergy. They said that the only thing worthy of touching “God’s food” was fingers, according to Paul R. Wonning.
Colonial American History Stories - 1215 – 1664 contains almost 300 history stories presented in a timeline that begins in 1215 with the signing of the Magna Carta to the printing of the first Bible in Colonial America in 1664. The historical events include both famous ones as well as many forgotten stories that the mists time have obscured. These reader friendly stories include: June 15, 1215 - King John I signs Magna Carta at Runnymede England
Forks were pretty much unheard of during Winthrop’s era.
People would use their hands or the colonists who first began settling in New England in the 1620s brought what furnishing they could from Europe, but they were largely on their own when it came to setting up housekeeping. And a look around their dining room would bear little resemblance to what we see today – or even what colonists had just a few decades later.
The fork came into use late in Western cultures, joining knives and spoons as table utensils only in the 1500s.
Forks appeared on colonial American tables around late 1500’s, but in small numbers. In 1633 Gov. John Winthrop received a "case containing an Irish skeayne or knife, a bodekyn & a forke for the useful application of which I leave to your discretion," indicating that the proper use of the items was yet unclear. Such utensils were enjoyed only by the wealthy, including Winthrop and a handful of well-to-do colonists such as Mary Browne (1674-1753), who owned a travel set of five miniature knives, forks, and spoons, which were stored in a shagreen case.
In colonial New England, forks were imported until the early 1700s, after which date a small number were made locally for privileged members of society such as Rebecca Chambers, whose initials grace this example by Samuel Gray. As a new and fashionable form, the fork would have been a desirable purchase made by her father, the Hon. Charles Chambers, Esq. (1650-1743) a member of His Majesty's council, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and treasure for the County of Middlesex.
This small fork may have been part of a set, originally accompanied by a spoon or knife (or both) as well as a travelling case. It bears a remarkable resemblance to a fork and spoon made by John Coney about 1700. All three are similar in weight and scale; they further share a two-tined form, trifid shape, and comparable engraved decoration, including the human face or "green man" in the foliate area and the position of the initials and makers' marks.
Scholars have suggested that either John Coney or Jeremiah Drummer may have been Gray's master. Indeed, the survival of these unusual examples, along with six forks among Gray's inventoried shop goods, supports a master-apprentice relationship with Coney. This for is one of only three items that have been attributed to Gray.
Gray began practicing his craft about 1705 and moved to New London by April 1707, the time of his marriage there to Lucy Palmes. Therefore, the fork may have been made between 1705 and 1707.
Only a handful of well-to-do colonists,” adopted the use of the fork. It was also hard to argue for its use in the practical sense. According to Winthrop received the case of utensils, a note accompanying it said “for the useful application of which I leave to your discretion.”
Fork Life.
When Americans finally started their love affair with the fork, their dining etiquette compared to their international peers became a source of controversy for centuries, whether it’s the way it was held or what side of the setting (table arrangement) would it be placed. The peculiar way Americans use the fork can be traced back to what happened when they refused to adopt the utensil after it was introduced by Winthrop, and then later to the Plymouth Colony area when a “wealthy gentleman” brought it to the dinner table in 1721.
During the time it took for Americans to widely start using the fork, dining cutlery was evolving in England. Knives changed to have rounded blade ends, since forks had “assumed the function of the pointed blade,” says Deetz. “However, since most knives were made in England, and the fork appeared later in America, this relationship did not prevail in the New World.”
It’s for this reason, he says, the American standard of switching the fork with the tines pointing up, rather than the European way of having the tines point down, is still prevalent today: Using a round-ended knife and not having a fork, one would either have made considerable use of the fingers conveying solid foods to the mouth or made do with the spoon. This raises and interesting, if not conjectural, point. Americans often comment that Europeans use their forks “upside down.”
Since we did not learn to use forks until sometime after the ends of knives were rounded, the change in the manner of food conveyance was not directly from knife tip to fork tine as it was in England. The only intermediate utensil available was the spoon; one could cut food and transfer it to the spoon bowl. If even one generation used knife and spoon in this manner, the fork, upon its belated appearance, would be used in a manner similar to the spoon. Which is precisely the way we use it today.
When the fork was first introduced to the dining table in early North America, it caused controversy. Fast forward nearly four centuries later, and the small-pronged utensil still causes international arguments over dining etiquette.
On June 25, 1633, when Governor John Winthrop, a founding father of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, took out a fork, then known as a “split spoon,” at the dinner table, the utensil was dubbed “evil” by the clergy. They said that the only thing worthy of touching “God’s food” was fingers, according to Paul R. Wonning.
Colonial American History Stories - 1215 – 1664 contains almost 300 history stories presented in a timeline that begins in 1215 with the signing of the Magna Carta to the printing of the first Bible in Colonial America in 1664. The historical events include both famous ones as well as many forgotten stories that the mists time have obscured. These reader friendly stories include: June 15, 1215 - King John I signs Magna Carta at Runnymede England
Forks were pretty much unheard of during Winthrop’s era.
People would use their hands or the colonists who first began settling in New England in the 1620s brought what furnishing they could from Europe, but they were largely on their own when it came to setting up housekeeping. And a look around their dining room would bear little resemblance to what we see today – or even what colonists had just a few decades later.
The fork came into use late in Western cultures, joining knives and spoons as table utensils only in the 1500s.
Forks appeared on colonial American tables around late 1500’s, but in small numbers. In 1633 Gov. John Winthrop received a "case containing an Irish skeayne or knife, a bodekyn & a forke for the useful application of which I leave to your discretion," indicating that the proper use of the items was yet unclear. Such utensils were enjoyed only by the wealthy, including Winthrop and a handful of well-to-do colonists such as Mary Browne (1674-1753), who owned a travel set of five miniature knives, forks, and spoons, which were stored in a shagreen case.
In colonial New England, forks were imported until the early 1700s, after which date a small number were made locally for privileged members of society such as Rebecca Chambers, whose initials grace this example by Samuel Gray. As a new and fashionable form, the fork would have been a desirable purchase made by her father, the Hon. Charles Chambers, Esq. (1650-1743) a member of His Majesty's council, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and treasure for the County of Middlesex.
This small fork may have been part of a set, originally accompanied by a spoon or knife (or both) as well as a travelling case. It bears a remarkable resemblance to a fork and spoon made by John Coney about 1700. All three are similar in weight and scale; they further share a two-tined form, trifid shape, and comparable engraved decoration, including the human face or "green man" in the foliate area and the position of the initials and makers' marks.
Scholars have suggested that either John Coney or Jeremiah Drummer may have been Gray's master. Indeed, the survival of these unusual examples, along with six forks among Gray's inventoried shop goods, supports a master-apprentice relationship with Coney. This for is one of only three items that have been attributed to Gray.
Gray began practicing his craft about 1705 and moved to New London by April 1707, the time of his marriage there to Lucy Palmes. Therefore, the fork may have been made between 1705 and 1707.
Only a handful of well-to-do colonists,” adopted the use of the fork. It was also hard to argue for its use in the practical sense. According to Winthrop received the case of utensils, a note accompanying it said “for the useful application of which I leave to your discretion.”
Fork Life.
When Americans finally started their love affair with the fork, their dining etiquette compared to their international peers became a source of controversy for centuries, whether it’s the way it was held or what side of the setting (table arrangement) would it be placed. The peculiar way Americans use the fork can be traced back to what happened when they refused to adopt the utensil after it was introduced by Winthrop, and then later to the Plymouth Colony area when a “wealthy gentleman” brought it to the dinner table in 1721.
During the time it took for Americans to widely start using the fork, dining cutlery was evolving in England. Knives changed to have rounded blade ends, since forks had “assumed the function of the pointed blade,” says Deetz. “However, since most knives were made in England, and the fork appeared later in America, this relationship did not prevail in the New World.”
It’s for this reason, he says, the American standard of switching the fork with the tines pointing up, rather than the European way of having the tines point down, is still prevalent today: Using a round-ended knife and not having a fork, one would either have made considerable use of the fingers conveying solid foods to the mouth or made do with the spoon. This raises and interesting, if not conjectural, point. Americans often comment that Europeans use their forks “upside down.”
Since we did not learn to use forks until sometime after the ends of knives were rounded, the change in the manner of food conveyance was not directly from knife tip to fork tine as it was in England. The only intermediate utensil available was the spoon; one could cut food and transfer it to the spoon bowl. If even one generation used knife and spoon in this manner, the fork, upon its belated appearance, would be used in a manner similar to the spoon. Which is precisely the way we use it today.
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