Poor Miss Manners is always having to explains why Americans hold forks in their right hands as opposed to Europeans, who use their left hand to spear their food. Have American table manners deteriorated? Or are we following an historic tradition?
To answer that question we need to go back to ancient times when two-tined kitchen forks were used to help carve and serve meat. (We still require the assistance of large two-tined forks when barbecuing foods on a gas or coal grill.) In the 7th century the people in the Middle East began to use forks when dining, and by the 10th through the 11th centuries such usage had become quite common. The Italians were introduced to the fork in the 11th century.
One tale of the introduction of the fork to Western Europe credits Maria Argyropoulina, the Greek niece of Byzantine Emperor Basil II, who brought a case of golden forks to Venice in 1004, when she was to be married to the son of the Doge. She shocked guests at the wedding feast by using a fork, leading one priest to comment, “God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks — his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to Him to substitute artificial metal forks for them when eating.” Italian clerics viewed it as God’s vengeance when Argyropoulina died of the plague two years later. – Early British Table Silver: A Short History
It took 500 years for the implement to be used widely in that land. The French had their first look at the fork in 1533 when Catherine de Medici brought them from Italy upon the occasion of her marriage. The fork was at first thought to be an affectation, thus its adoption was slow, as it was in England after Thomas Coryate brought the implement back in 1608 from one of his travels to Italy. He observed that at their meals Italians “use a little forks when they cut the meats.” Early table forks were small and two-pronged, but the sharp straight tines were unable to hold much food, inspiring mockery. “Why should a person need a fork when God had given him hands?” one Englishman asked. (History of the Fork). Ben Johnson satirized the fork in 1616 in The Devil is an Ass for “the sparing of napkins.”
One wonders how the Europeans ate their food without a fork. If you’ve ever attended a reproduction of a medieval banquet you have an idea. People used knives to spear food, spoons to scoop up, and fingers to grab. Only one implement was used at a time, and it was held in the right hand.
Slowly but surely the fork began to make inroads upon the dining table. As is the usual case, the wealthy began to adopt the new implement first. The upper crust began to impress their guests with forks made of expensive materials. Called suckett forks, they were used to protect the hands from sticky and messy foods or foods that stained the hands, like mulberries. By the mid 1600s, forks had become luxury items and were considered to be marks of fashion. At the end of the 17th century and beginning of the 18th century the three-tined fork was introduced. The “sherbet course”, introduced in the early 1700’s, was created to wash the single fork for the next course.” (The History of the Fork)
Four-tined prongs became popular in the 1750s. These tines were curved and served as a scoop, reducing the need for the spoon. By the time Jane Austen and her family had moved from Steventon to Bath, the four-tined fork was also being made in Germany and England and had traveled to the Americas. In the mid 19th century specialized forks were produced for every kind of food, including cakes and fish.
This short history still does not explain why Americans and Europeans hold their forks in different hands. History Matters: Cutlery provides an insight:
Cardinal Richelieu of France supposedly was so disgusted by a frequent dinner guest’s habit of picking his teeth with his knife that he had the tips of the man’s knives ground down. The fashion-conscious French court picked up on this style and followed suit. In 1699, to reduce the risk of dinnertime knife fights, French King Louis XIV banned pointed knives outright. Since blunted knives were useless for spearing food in the old two-knife dining style, forks replaced the knife held in the left hand.
The newfangled blunt knives reached the American colonies in the early 1700s, where few forks were available. Americans were forced to use upside-down spoons to steady food for cutting. They would then switch the spoon to the right hand, flipping it to use as a scoop. Even after forks became everyday utensils, this “zigzag” style (as Emily Post called it in the 1920s) continues to divide American eaters’ customs from the Continental style of dining. (Shifting the fork to the right hand after cutting is considered uncouth by Europeans.) – (This passage seems to have used The Uncommon Origins of the Common Fork as its source.)
In a recent Washington Post advice column, Miss Manners contends that Americans follow the correct European way of eating centuries ago and that it was the Europeans who sped things up by keeping the fork in the left hand as they cut their food with the right hand. She concludes her advice with this thought:
Those who point out that the European manner is more efficient are right. Those who claim it is older or more sophisticated — etiquette has never considered getting food into the mouth faster a mark of refinement — are wrong. – Miss Manners: Fork’s History is not a big Mystery
Wonderful article, Vic! I’ve always been told Americans are wrong when we transfer the fork to our left hand to cut meat, then transfer it back to our right to spear it. I wondered why; now I know. Given the origins of the practice, I understand why some might consider it uncouth. But I am proud to learn it’s actually a reflection of the colonial spirit to make due with what’s available.
~Jo~
Love this article! I’ve had this conversation with English friends; it’s great to finally have a good explanation!
That is very fascinating. I have friends in England and Scotland who tease me about my ‘Yankee’ ways. Now I can tell them that they truly are ‘Yankee (colonial)’ ways and as old as Western Civilization.
Love the write-up! Thanks
What a fascinating post! I have always wondered about that, now I know. thanks!
Another interesting and informative article, Vic.
I was raised in England and so naturally used the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right. However, when I became a Mid-Atlantic-er I adopted both customs, depending on what’s on the menu. If it’s something that requires frequent cutting I will use the European manner, but if not, salad for example, I hold the fork in the right.
Now, if only I could devise a genteel way of eating spagetti other than the fork and spoon procedure which usually has the spagetti unravelling once escaping the spoon. I hack the spagetti into fork managable lengths. Then there are chopsticks—is it considered polite to scoop rice over the edge of the bowl into the mouth with a chopstick anywhere but in the Far East?
Like you, I eat the European way or the American way depending on what I’m eating.
I’ve been working on a novel that takes place in 1648 and your article answers a lot of question I had on eating utensils. Thanks so much for posting this.
I didn’t realize holding the fork with my right hand was an American trait. I always thought it was because I was right-handed. If I lived in Europe, I’d drop food all over me.
I have wanted an explanation for this. Great post!
That was great! I never really thought about it I guess. But now I know. I loved the pics of the various forks. The next to last were quite decorative and beautiful.
Fascinating article on something so simple as the fork. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Vic, for another wonderfully comprehensive look at a specialised topic. You are amazing!
Great article, Vic. I’m not an American so I don’t know you all use your right hand to hold a fork. Interesting!
I have always wondered. Thanks!
Hi Vic,
Your post is very interesting!
Stunning!
Thanks for sharing!
Have a good day!
I was born and raised in England and have always used my fork in my right hand and knife in the left, I am partly left handed though, so I think it has something to do with it. Thanks for the interesting information.
It’s interesting you said that, Heather. I am Dutch, but I was left-handed as a child. The nuns forced me to use my right hand when writing, and to this day I hold my fork in my right hand and cut with my knife in my left hand. I do not switch my implements and maintain the European custom of keeping one’s fork and knives stationary in one’s hands.
Vic,
That is indeed very interesting, I do not switch my implements either, I can also write with both hands, although my left is neater, however I do not remember being forced to use my right hand as you were. I also use both utensils for eating salad, something American’s don’t do, I find it impossible to eat it with just a fork.