Picture the scene: It is the year 1004, and Venice is celebrating a joyous occasion: a wedding banquet for the Doge’s son and his bride, a Byzantine princess named Theodora.
The food has arrived. But instead of digging in with her hands, as a “good Christian” would, from her bag, there emerges a small, two-pronged fork of gold, which the Princess uses to pick up a bit of food for her mouth.
The room falls silent. The religious leaders are shocked. The visitors are repulsed.
According to historians, this not only represented a lack of social standing, but it represented an act against God. St. Peter Damian wrote that the premature death of the Princess represented God’s punishment for the Princess’s pride. Why? Because the Princess could not touch God’s food with the fingers God gave to her.
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“God Provided Natural Forks”
Today, it’s laughable, but the reality is that the fork was seen as the instrument of the devil. The Church’s reasoning was straightforward: “God gave humanity fingers.” There was simply no need to use an artificial metal claw to “defile God’s design” by eating with it. Also, it resembled the devil’s pitchfork.
Additionally, the spoon was acceptable because it was ancient, while the knife was acceptable because it was used in hunting. However, the fork was always an outsider. This remained an improper utensil, to be found only in the hands of “over-refined” women and dubious members of the nobility in the East.
The Turning Point: Pasta and Politics
You might wonder, why did we start using them? The fork did not conquer Europe through manners, it conquered through pasta. Indeed, by the 17th century, the Italians had come to realize that noodle dishes posed certain difficulties when eaten by hand. And so, the fork, designed with three or four curved prongs, proved ideal for twirling spaghetti.
From Scandal to Standard
It took them nearly 500 years to get their utensils over the Alps and into fashion in Northern Europe. It wasn’t until the 1600s that British men were laughed at in literature as “effeminate” if they ate with forks. To eat meat with a golden claw was unnecessary if you were a man.
Nowadays, when we peer into the dishware cabinet, it is difficult to comprehend the fact that the most commonly employed item we possess was, at one point, a “ticket to hell”.
The next pasta twirl you indulge in should be a medieval act of rebellion.
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