The Forgotten History of the Fork
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- The utensils we use for eating today seem so common sense that we can hardly imagine eating without them. But the table fork is a surprisingly new invention once thought superfluous and vulgar. The History Guy recalls the forgotten history of one of humankind's most common tools.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.
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Script by CDH
#fork #thehistoryguy #history
After watching three of your videos, one after the other, my 12 year old son said "I like this guy. He makes history interesting. I thought history was just 'some guy was born in some year,, blah blah blah. I didn't know history could be fun. " Thanks, History Guy, for helping me turn around my kid's viewpoint.
I always like to start with "Did you know...", Helps build up curiosity, especially with kids. I love history, and even got some people at work, some who have never even finished highschool, learning about the industrial revolution, and whether it was a bad or good thing.
As a preschooler, and on (until he could go out and about on his own, we’d take our son to the various museums on the University campuses where we lived. When given his choice as to a family outing, that venue was usually selected even over the movies or skating!
Nice.
And everyone clapped
I am born and raised in the USA and had never really realized the different styles of using utensils until I was on vacation with several European people. They asked me if I has always lived in the USA because I use the European style. It made me realize that my Great grandmother was from Wales. She taught her daughter, who taught her children, etc. ... Neat to think about.
It's amazing that it persisted so long! Congratulations to your maternal line.
Kudos to you that you actually gave it some thought and came up with the answer!!
What is an Ice Cream Fork?? 😮
A lot of Americans with World War era immigrant roots use the European style
“...what the fork to use...”, clever!😄. Add me to the list of people that have never switched hands, being left-handed (and therefore sinister). Love this channel!
As a chef I am super excited to hear this kind of history. please keep this kind of information coming I love the format and you do it in a very fun and enticing way. Learning is progress, and great food is the ultimate goal.
I don’t swap hands either, but I always use the fork in right hand and knife in the left.
Re: left-handedness, I like to put it this way: "Most of the world may be right-handed, the rest of us are correct handed. Why do you think the forks are always on the left when fine dining?"
Me as well. Knife in right hand, fork in left, as god intended.
What the Fork!😂😂😂
I'm happy to learn about the long "fork-gotten" (forgotten) history of the fork. I am interested to learn how the silly spork came about as well.
😂😂😂
Never explain your dad jokes! 😂
My wife asked me why I was still sitting on the toilet. I told her I was watching a video on the history of forks. She didn’t believe me.
Pffft!! needed that laugh, thanks!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤯
Pornography is easier to explain.
Til your legs fall asleep then when you stand up you fall over and crack your head on the tub
Hahaha nice man
This reminded me of the time we were visiting my in-laws when my daughter was very young. The flatware included three tined forks and when someone dropped a fork and when they announced "I dropped my fork", my daughter piped up with "You mean you dropped your threek."
Whenever I see a three tined fork, I now call it a threek.
I was once given this bit of etymology by a person who was an iron smith a a renaissance fair: Single pointed objects are called pikes or, at sometime in the past, peaks (spelling?). Then two pointed objects, twoks (tooks, twoques?) (I don't know the spelling.) (Also note that this in Germanic/Anglo-Saxon languages.) So three pointed objects were indeed called threeks (thrikes, thriques?). So finally four pointed objects were called fourks (forks). I don't know how accurate this is, but maybe this is something the History Guy could look into. I think the terminolgy is just as interesting as the actual obect or event.
@@michaelcollier9368: You convinced me. Whether true or not, Pikes, Twoks, Threeks and Fourks are now part of my language. I actually have a Twok as part of my medieval re-enactment dinning kit.
Fnu Lnu One is for eating, the other for ruling the seven seas!
@Chris Maines Right! Looking hopefully for hobbits.
@@michaelcollier9368 I use a twook to tune my guitar.
I love it when people describe eating as “shovel it in” thanks for being one of those people @HistoryGuy
When I was learning how to set a table, I was always told that you place the cutting blade toward the plate. This was explained as in medieval times, you wanted to keep knife fights at a minimum.
It's because most people are right handed.
My wife from Brazil eats in the continental style. Up to now I've jokingly referred to this as "the metric system of eating." I proudly eat in the American style. Our kids are caught in between. Now we know the differences in style & the reasons how they developed. Thanks History Guy!
My wife quit asking
They have a sleep over, there's no need as that's the handle on the outside door which was connected to the elbow outside and the seagul and helicopter got blown up by the tosser! 😭😂
What has the metric system to do with the way of eating? I didn't get the joke.
The imperial unit of measure was used? When they killed the ancient aborigines and send rabbits and criminals there and the flu to kill them off and they destroyed their god and hid them before the downunder situation was formed
Regards
Black Plague
When an enlisted sailor in the Australian Navy changes over to an officer. We only drink water and eat nothing, to pass the table manners part of officer training.
What No beer!!??
Why skip that exactly?
In the US military, when one receives a direct commission (eg, newly recruited medical officer), one goes through a shortened course of basic military training mainly in military etiquette. We call it "fork and knife school."
@@philgraham8213 Agreed. You need to turn around first before farting.
@@davidwise1302 Yes, I remember setting my fork on the plate between each bite until the bite was consumed. Nothing my mother had not already taught me. They did not like the fact that my English uncle had taught me the proper use of knife and fork.
I watched this episode, as I ate my supper with a fork & knife. I'm from Canada, and I use my fork "Continental" style. Thank you THG, I am always awed by the segments you determine, "are worth remembering". Much appreciated!
"The abbot made us taste (reserved for his table) the chicken I had seen being prepared in the kitchen. I saw that he also possessed a metal fork, a great rarity, whose form reminded me of my master’s glasses. A man of noble extraction, our host did not want to soil his hands with food, and indeed offered us his implement, at least to take the meat from the large plate and put it in our bowls. I refused, but I saw that William accepted gladly and made nonchalant use of that instrument of great gentlemen, perhaps to show the abbot that not all Franciscans were men of scant education or humble birth. " From "The Name of the Rose", by Umberto Eco.
In the Victorian era tables were set with the fork tines down to prevent frilly cuffs from catching on them.
Aaaahhhhhhh
Yesss, this is why I follow THG. More obscure history about common every day things please!
Denis me too. THG is invariably entertaining 👍.
Funny how something like the “history of the fork” is so interesting. Knowledge is Power :) Thank you, good job as usual
That's his gift. He can make anything interesting. I watched the forgotten history of the potato with great interest.
Indeed, I am very interesting
"Power . . . is power." ~ Cersei Lanister
Knowledge is Power. France is Bacon.
I absolutely love this series of the history of very simple objects. Keys next? What about a comb?
"Knowing what the fork to use..." @ 11:10
I see what you did there - I had to double-take and make sure I hadn't misheard you. :-D
That was the cherry on top of this video for me hahaha
You had me rolling on that one, Lance
When you come to a fork in the road, take it! - Yogi Berra
Gov : "Yogi, you look really cool in a Tux."
Yogi : "You don't look so hot either."
“Never answer an anonymous letter.” - Yogi Berra
@Commentator fork it over....
Looking up what the heck an "ice cream fork" is, I couldn't help but compare it to something a lot of us have already seen called a "spork".
I'd love a follow up of the evolution of the spork, and what makes it different than an ice cream fork! :)
The spork is the greatest invention of the 20th century! 😅
@@nhmooytis7058 Would be IF it was sturdier!!
@@kkrolf2782 invent a sturdier spork.
@@nhmooytis7058 Yep, that’s what I meant. 👍
My husband and I love your channel! The other day we were talking about where mascots came from and was thinking it would make an interesting video.
May the fork be with you!
@Dave Goldspink That's an upgrade for me. Normally I get the 🤦♂️ emoji!
Can't imagine living without it !
“Der herdee schmeerdee! Fork! Fork! Fork!” - The Swedish Chef
from the muppets?
Wayne Flanigan Yep. Hence the fork version. It rhymes with Bork. Maybe.
No Swede would ever say that as none of the words exist in the Swedish language.
@@CB-fn3me Apparently, you've never watch The Muppets.
CB It’s a joke!
Only this guy could make me interested in the history of something trivial like a fork. He could do a 24 hour documentary on grass and I would be so psyched lol
I never would have guessed in a million years there was once a point in time when people freaked out over the use of a fork for eating.
Thanks History Guy for so much interesting content on your channel.
LincolnTek Arabs still don’t use forks.
Yeah bro
It’s been my experience that people will freak out over just about any dam thing😊
Two things...I'm 66 and I was taught as a child that the continental method was rude or down scale. I switched to the easier method as soon as I learned it. Second, I've lived in the Arab world most of my life. My children are Arab. Arabs do use forks, but not with rice. Using a fork with rice marks you as a foreigner. Otherwise Arabs use forks for everything else.
@@louisludlum8030 they don't use forks for rice. They use them like everyone else otherwise.
This man can literally make history out of anything.
The history is already made; THG is just a bad@$$ at making it interesting. I could listen to him describe historical paint drying...
History IS anything in the past...some is important, some banal, most is unknown or forgotten...until THG ferrets it out!
@@jordaneggerman4734 Yes! His videos aren't just boring historical lectures by any means.
It's talent and hard work!
I love videos like this! The history of the things you take for granted like eating utensils! Such fun & you do learn something new everyday! I mean have you ever looked at a fork & wondered about the history of it??
I read about this in a National Geographic article! I love that you made this video! It’s so fun to hear about history that has become obscure!
Hi History Guy. The Lancashire Cotton famine would be an interesting subject to cover. Lancashire Cotton mills, one of Britain's biggest industries, suffered lack of raw material due to the US Civil War. Despite the great suffering of workers, many of them refused to work with slave cotton on moral and religious grounds. They even sent a letter to Lincoln, who sent a letter in reply. There is a statue to Lincoln in Manchester still, with an inscription of his letter.
Fork-gotten history
baaa doomshahhh
forkget about it!
😂
I love your program. With each episode you remind us that history should be remembered (so as not to be repeated?) and that history is not the big event, great people scenario we were all taught in school, but little things done by ordinary people during the great events that advance the course of history. I do wish you would do some videos about Chinese history. In many ways they were ahead of the west and sadly that is passing out of the contemporary consciousness by western centricism.
07:42 my parents taught me all the commissioned officers' "knife and fork" school uses of utensils, plates bowls and their proper placement etc at the dinner placing, and sequential use. as a little kid, i thought this preposterous until as an adult, i was invited during an awards ceremony to dine in the "O" mess. right at home (some were stunned that an enlistedman knew the routine), and yes i tilted the soup bowl away from me, fully proper. the skipper thought it was a hoot.
@BLUE DOG Aye what!
@Mike Spencer I am so sorry for your handicap. I hope you can overcome it and join in living in less refined society.
Though I am not African, I have to chuckle at their description of utensil positions for British guests. The fork is in the off position.
You will of course, have a good day, sir.
@@lawrencetaylor4101
"in meliora contende" should be your motto...
@Mike Spencer you should learn some new words, so you can convey what you mean better
A hoot is short for a Gaelic word hootenanny meaning party
Another wonderful history lesson on a subject I had taken for granted. Many thanks THG !!!
Another awesome start to the day thanks to The History Guy!!!
History guy should be the only guy with access to a time machine
Imagine what we'd think if someone sat down in front of you at a dinner and pulled out some fancy tool you've never seen to eat with. She was ahead of her time. 😂
Yeppers ☺
There is a message here for those who scream tradition as their mantra. Maybe they need to be reminded that everything changes and that tradition is just peer pressure from dead people. Fascinating topic. Always look forward to you videos.
This was a great one. I remember hearing my mother, who is very judge mental, talking about somebody rudely eating their meat with their left hand and the tines pointed down. That is so funny.
As a 13 year old Army Brat living in France in the 1960's I observed how the French used their forks and adopted that style. It is more efficient so I gave it a try and never looked back. 55 years later I don't even think about it.
I use my fork both ways depending on if I am eating meat or beans.
@@dbmail545 You may of hit upon part of the reason of the different usage. The types of foods we eat with which utensil. How of earth would a person eat beans with a fork held European style? So I imagine, by being separated by the big pond, that we have probably used the fork to eat foods our European cousins do not.
Don't know how I started but I use my fork and knife in the European style. But I can also use my knife to pick up food and just use the fork to hold it in place, that's how a lot of people who lived on farms, and the backwoods used them when I was a young boy.
@@ronfullerton3162 Yup. As a Spaniard, the fork only comes out for the main (served second) dish, if the first is kinda liquid-y and not a salad or something. For those (and beans are usually prepared as part of a very thick soup that we call 'potages' in Spain), we just use spoons, and no knife at all, since we push the food around with a piece of bread on the left hand, if need be. And when the dish requires no sharp cutting utensil, of course (like with a spanish tortilla, or a salad for example), we use the fork on the right hand... and also a piece of bread in the left, to help push the food that can't we speared by the fork. But of course, we eat bread with _everything._ Including pasta. So the diet certainly influences which instrument to use. But switching hands after _every_ bite when eating, say, a stake? Preposterous for me. ;P
@@thebigdog2295 sounds like you lived so far back in the woods where people still use tomahawks to split kindling wood for the stove and farrplace.
in the last half of the 20th century, butter knives found a new use when it came to tightening up the screws on a VCR
Writer/ philosopher Robert Fulghum believed that not only was the kitchen the best place to work on small repairs, but that if you accidentally snapped the tip off of the butter knife, no problem, you now had an improved screwdriver!
Ha. Good one. But Who still uses a VCR? I have one new in the box that I bought 16 years ago as a spare because it was on sale. It is still unopened and new. I haven’t watched a DVD in nearly a year, either.
Or if you go over to Rich Rebuilds, you can disassemble a Tesla with one
It's very simple: As Yogi Berra said, "when you come to a fork in the road, you take it."
That explains our collection of odd forks.
Yogi had a circular drive.
He therefore told guests "when you come to a fork in the road,take it",as either way led to his home.
Any clip over ten minutes is too long.
@@PurpleObscuration We'll have to agree to disagree. Often the subject demands more time or you might as well just skip it. THG used to try to get his vids that short, but discovered that it just didn't work. I'd actually like to see him do some that require half an hour or more to properly cover the story.
But some days my attention span is pretty short, too!
@@jerrymiller276,
It's me, I realize that CZcams is not the medium to get into great detail. I use CZcams as a source for topics and if a topic interests me I look for books on the subject at the local library.
I like the lava lamp in the background. As a left handed person raised as right (no pressure just no lefties to follow) I always used my left hand to cut and my fork with my right. This drove my dad nuts, he had military training too.
I always enjoy your presentations. I am surprised by your omission of the derivation of the phrase "spick and span". As related by Henry Petrosky in his book, "The Evolution of Useful Things" , spic and span refers to a spike and span or a knife (spike) and span (fork, or more accurately the space between the tines of a fork). Th ability of these two instruments to keep one's hands clean and tidy morphed into the phrase "spic and span".
That is really neat to find that out about that phrase...thanks..!!
Well, I'm sure this'll be forking interesting, and lead to many puns.
I always use a spoon ....... but 'fork it' I'm going to change.
What the fork you talk in’ about?!
This fork pun is challenging, and not at all forksgiving
Ah you forking beat me to it.
At least he didn't clickbait us. That would be forking horrible.
Always good to know there is always something to learn.
Thank you for uploading this informative history of the fork utensil.
I would *LOVE* to see all those attempts to combine a fork and a spoon. The spork was one way, but the Australian _splayd_ was another. Interestingly, I wonder why splayds didn't become common for eating Italian pasta.
I recommend a book “Consider the fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat” by Bee Wilson
Yes, it's informative and fun. I read it just a couple of weeks ago.
Most times I watch The History Guy, he refers to a book and I add it to the reading list. So far; about 80 books.
The History Guy just FORKED over another interesting episode of forkgotten history......
ha ha ha! Good one! : )
😅😂 Painful (but I chuckled) 🤣✌️
you stole my forking idea... lol
See, the "forked over" was pure gold. You were pushing it a bit, beyond that... lol
That was horrible, I love it!
My mother worked at a US Consulate and we would occasionally have American ambassadors over for supper. I was always fascinated with how clumsy they used their fork to eat.
They were equally fascinated that we were so different in our style of using a fork in our left hand (Canadian)
Thank you for the reminder.
I have never seen anyone eat in either way. In NY you hold the fork in your right hand (dominant) and the knife in your left and you don’t change. Cutting with your left hand using the fork with your right… the cutting does not take as much dexterity so it’s easy to do with your non-dominant hand.
Hello Mr. History Guy, would you ever consider doing a presentation on the history of man kinds harvesting and farming of the Honey Bee.
Thank you for your well research stories.
Sure, they caught some bees and put them in a box and they made honey - the end.
@@observantowl5568 - Thank you Mr Obvious :P
Actually, beekeepers didn't put bees in boxes until the invention of the Langstroth hive in the 1850s.
I'm always amazed at how you can make anything interesting. Why I bet you could make the history of ketchup fascinating... OH yeah, you already did. 🤣
My question is why does almost all histories of the fork gloss over the archaeological evidence of the use of the fork by the Romans? Roman forks have been been found as far north as Hadrian's Wall and in many excavations in London and other Roman forts in around Europe. It is true they fell out of fashion with the fall of the Western Empire, but their use continued in Italy and else where. The Moors in Spain (Medieval Andalusia) documented their eating manners.
Probably because we're stupid, I especially, although I did manage to put the apostrophe in the right place.
LOVE this piece! So interesting (and humorous!) Thank you for presenting it!!
HI
I am a German immigrant to Australia. And I did not experience any difference in ' Fork Culture' ! Everybody just ate their food tines up, and definitely no switching! Fork stays in left hand and knife in right. All this amazing history of differences in knife and fork usage is totally new to me! I had thought, prior to this vid, that my eating utensil usage was universal! Shalom to us only in Christ Yeshua.
My twin sons are mirror twins, one right handed one left handed. Watching them sit next to one another while eating is fascinating.
How long did it take them to automatically seat themselves with their dominate hand to the outside?
Ralph Craig, about the time they came out of booster seats. The banging elbows got old with them quickly. They are 15 now and when we go to a restaurant they still jockey for positions at the booth tables. Lol.
Another great episode! Seriously love your videos. Nice to see people who still discuss history as historians aka not politicizing or viewing it through biased modern lenses. Also, as someone who was born and raised in Nigeria where eating with hands is more culturally suited (we do use cutlery but for many of our dishes hands are better and it helps strengthen cultural bonds, trust me) this video was sooo fun to watch! Reminds me of the time I went to Catholic secondary school. They enforced cutlery use with religious intent😂 and it was so damn awkward and funny.
It is soul refreshing thinking of things of which i have not; the others tend towards distress without both discipline and grace. Thank you!❤❤❤😊
If you've ever been to a Dolly Parton Stampede show, namely the one in Pigeon Forge, TN, you'll know that everything palatable is consumed with your hands, and no flatware is used at all. I think this is brilliant; less waste, no cutlery to clean or dispose of, and fewer things for the waitstaff to buss after the meal. Simplified and happy, all around. I went to one of these shows about eight years or so ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt a bit neanderthal, or even medieval (as if at a madrigal play) but appreciated the simplicity of the presentation and the content of the meal all the more; small chickens cooked nicely, veggies well done but not overly so, bowls of soup easily drunk, and friendly folks in attendance to help you and let you enjoy the entertainment. If you've heard of a CZcams channel called Townsends, it's a realtime chronicle of Revolution-era way of life re-enactment that is well researched and as realistic as can be done. You would enjoy it given the timeframe, HG. Jon is a good man and does his homework.
I have a couple of "feasting sets" that I plan to give to close friends who are reenactors at the Feast of the Hunter's Moon. They're wrought iron, and are complete with a knife, two-pronged fork, and spoon, as well as a holster for all the utensils. I wonder what they will think of these when given. They may be period accurate, but it may be difficult to know for sure; it depends.
Thank you for what you do. Keep it up.
I remember as a child my mother would scold me if I didn't switch the fork to my right hand after cutting a piece of meat. She said is was poor table manners to use my left hand to put the food in my mouth and it was just plain lazy. I'm right handed and I'm certain that if I were left handed should would have switched rule around to accommodate a left handed person. Can I just say I watched this video 8 minutes after its posting and saw there was already a thumbs down. Seriously, you're so dedicated to being an Internet troll that you thumbs down a History Guy video? That's a person who needs professional help.
It is a sad individual who cannot stand a little education first thing in the morning. That person probably hasn't progressed to the point of even using a fork yet.
Was June Cleaver your mom?
As a lefty, I only recently noticed this "switching phenomenon" in right handed people. I've always put the fork in my left and and knife in my right and never felt the need to switch hands to cut my food at all.
@@91jvdb same. As a lefty, I'm somehow better at cutting food when I hold the fork with my left, keeping the meat more stable, and the knife should be sharp enough to do the job without wasting valuable hand-switching time.
@@jordaneggerman4734 we're probably more ambidextrous that we're willing to admit haha. I always say there's people who are left handed and people who are stupidly left handed
As an American, I've never switched hands, that just seems like a waste of time.
Yeah eating with a fork is so easy, there is no reason to swap and I rarely see anyone do this except maybe in videos. I have tried flipping the fork up over on both sides but I prefer the American way.
Oddly I just can't eat without switching hands! I tried when in Canada and it just felt so wrong. Goes to show that when you do something long enough, the habit becomes part of you.
I'm definitely of the impression that the hand switch thing is pretty much dead among millennials and gen z. Gen x seems to be divided.
@BLUE DOG fork you
I switch, sometimes I don't. I am starting to favor the European style. It seems silly to switch hands, once you have cut the meat.
You somehow made the fork interesting. This is one of the best shows on CZcams. Keep up the great work.
Only the History Guy could make the history of the fork interesting. Bravo!
I saw this video and was like...”alright, I’ll bite.”
😅😂 Ouch! 🤣✌️
I see what you did there 😏
A two groaner. Excellent!
As a kid I used to use the "American style" when cutting and eating but sometime when I was growing up I switched to the "European style".
I have a very extensive silverware set from the 30’s that my grandmother collected then handed down to my mother who collected more pieces and then handed down to me. It’s a very popular pattern from Rogers bro’s. Called First Love, and it sits nicely in a large silverware chest in the dining room. The chest has six drawers to hold the many different pieces. I have lots of forks, dinner forks, grille forks, grapefruit forks, salad forks, oyster forks, and desert forks. I have to still find ice cream forks but they are very hard to find and rather expensive. My service is of 12 place settings and has just as many different kinds of spoons and four different kinds of knives. I love to host formal dinners and create multi course meals to utilize all my pieces. A table setting with multiple forks knives and spoons looks very beautiful and it’s always fun to see the looks on people’s faces as they try to figure out which utensil to use and when. As a good host I always tell them just follow my lead and use the item on the outside and work your way in. Of course to have such a set of silverware one must also have an extensive china collection with multiple plates and bowls to use for each course and I also have a large crystal drink ware collection as I like to serve a different beverage with each course. I love fine dining and I love having a formal dining room that is just for fancy dinner parties. I studied the history of the fork and like to tell my guests it’s story as dinner conversation. Unfortunately during this pandemic dinner parties are not being held but I have a daily good China set that I eat with for everyday isolated meals. I just think you should have a daily China, good China and fine China and you should have everything in the same pattern that reflects your personal style. In the 80’s I was the manager of the fine China, crystal and silver department in an upscale department store called the Broadway in southern California which has long since been closed. In those days I was trained to help new brides come into the store and fill out their bridal registry lists and I would help them pick out their patterns. Sadly in today’s world people do not put much concern into China service and usually just have one set of dishes or paper plates. The days of refined dining have gone out of style and so have I, but it’s always a treat to be invited to Sunday dinner cooked by me.
I hated, loathed, detested (well, you get the idea) polishing the silverware when I was growing up. My fine flatware says "Stainless" on it and that suits me perfectly. I used to have china plates with metal (I won't call it silver) edges, but the microwave hated it so it is all gone.
We are a bit short on household staff, and since neither of us get any enjoyment out of fiddling with dishes, we simplified. There is nothing sad about it in our estimation.
I
I first learned about the history of forks from reading The Evolution of Useful Things by Henry Petroski. This video added much more. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing this comment. I just ordered it. You might be interested in Uncle John's Bathroom Readers series or The Extraordinary Origins Of Every Day Things by Charles Panati
@@girlnextdoorgrooming Thanks in turn!
I´ve always knew pasta was somehow important to history, now i know why.
The Christians also thought pasta was an abomination bc it was unleavened bread, so fits right in w their disgust at forks! 😂
“If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. ”
― Michael Crichton
We are all leaves that don’t know we are part of a tree.
@@Tadesan BUT WHO ARE YOU IF YOUR THE SEED?
Always interesting, always educational. Very well done. On a side note, unless it has already been mentioned, in regards to your introductory scene, I believe that knives in a place setting are laid with their blades facing inboard. The only advantage to working summers as a busboy.
Because most people are left handed.
I grew up in Newfoundland Canada, and I use what you described at the continental method. When I moved to Ontario I seemed backwards to everyone else. Now I have an idea why!
I had heard that about spies being caught because of their fork usage; somewhere before. Not sure if it was in a movie or not. But, that story is out there floating around. Very interesting!
the switching would be noticed in Europe, absolutely
Just a slight bone to pick with regard to table settings. In the very nice introduction showing the History Guy logo on the plate, the sharp edge of the knife blades are turned away from the plate. These edges should be turned toward the plate. This also is true at 8:35 with the gold setting. The knife edge needs to point to the left. This was drilled into me at a very early age by a Bostonian grandmother, born in 1883, who rather insisted the table be properly set. While these rules are not of much concern today, I am glad I learned them. I am ready for when I am invited to Buckingham Palace.
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Also, at the introduction segment, I am uncertain what is to be served for dinner. This dictates the silverware to be set. What appears to be the dinner fork is on the outside with an inner (perhaps) salad fork. If this is a French dinner where the salad is served afterward, this is correct. If this is an American dinner with the salad typically served first, then the salad fork should be at the outer side. The general rule is to work from the outside inward toward the plate as the used utensils are removed as each course is consumed.
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An interesting segment might be on how and why these rules and dinner etiquette evolved. We were always taught these rules are to make everyone feel comfortable because everyone knows what is expected. But, certainly, gentlemen and gentlewomen would never call out or even "notice" if guests were unaware. The entire exercise is to make dining pleasant and entertain the guest.
Russian or Continental style dictates that the points of the tines and the edges of knives point away from the diner such as you see in the introduction. Very common in fine dining and I would not be surprised to see a table set this way at Buckingham Palace
@@intractablemaskvpmGy Sorry, but I cannot find any reference online to the blade being pointed away from the plate, even when mentioning the Continental style. Of course, the Continental style of eating is to have the knife in the right hand and the fork, tines down, in the left. This is in contrast to the American style, for example, of cutting meat with the fork, tines down, in the left hand, and the knife in the right. The cut is done, then the knife is placed at the two o'clock position on the plate and the fork is moved to the right hand, tines up, where the food is pierced and raised to the mouth.
You mentioned Buckingham Palace. If you do a web search for "George IV the-grand-service," you will see the Royal Collection Trust's photograph of George IV's dining service. The knives are in the proper position - blade edges facing the plate.
I looked for Russian settings, also, and found a video, along with other photos and examples. In none of them could I find the knife blade edge pointing away from the plate. Go to CZcams and search for "Table Setting Russian set up."
I would have included the actual links to the items I mentioned but in my previous post that included links, the post seems to have been rejected. I gather one is not permitted to embed links within a Comment.
I do not wish to disagree with you, but I can find no example of where the knives would be anywhere but on the right side with the blade edge facing the plate. If you could provide examples to the contrary, I would be interested in seeing them.
"Scandalous use of a fork." 😂😂🤣😂 That really struck me as funny today.
This high-quality and absolutely essential knowledge is why I love CZcams
when I heard, "what the fork to use" was the moment that compelled me to hit the like button.
Coming next: History of the Spork!
spork is an ice cream fork
Kentucky Fried Chicken.
spoons and forks ruled over by the mighty king spork.
Viva la SPORK!!
There are other odd combinations of flatware that are out there. The spoon knife being one of them and the fork. Then there is also a combination of the knife fore and spoon in one utensil.
Excellent. I really appreciated the focus on the background to the different styles
My dad was a very good cook professionally and managed restaurant, NCO clubs. Holidays were a presentation at home. I learned about utensils, China, glasses, napkins growing up. Came in handy in my employment opportunities.
I'm British, right handed, and yet I use always hold the knife in my left hand, and use the fork in the right hand (prongs down).
That's because I'm a free-thinking anarchist :)
Gareth, as an American I do the same. Right hand fork always, if I need to cut I pick up the knife with my left and cut. Seems easier and requires less coordination, :) As for the prongs, I would say they flip up and down based on the current food selection, e.g. meat down to cut, while beans or potatoes up to "scoop" them up, if necessary. I asked an etiquette teacher about this once and was told it is an accepted method, so I "stuck" with it (sorry could not resist the pun).
Are you really right-handed or are you naturally left-handed but have been educated to be 'normal'?
@@tonpal I am right-handed, however, there have been a couple of periods in my life I was forced to do things left-handed due to injury ( broken right hand, then broken right wrist) and can write fairly well with both hands now. All of which may contribute to my ease of use now, but I do not ever remember eating any other way.
@@tonpal yes I'm right-handed. I've just always had the inclination to pick up the fork with my right hand; I always switch the utensils over in restaurants. I've even tried to adopt the 'correct' convention and it just feels wrong.
I guess that's what comes from not having etiquette lessons.
“Knowing what the fork to use”. 😂 thanks for laugh, great episode. I had know idea Americans used forks differently than the rest of the world.
I was raised on the prairies of western Canada, and we have a very practical approach to any operation.
So we used the fork in the left hand to cut up the whole steak into bite-sized pieces, then switched the fork into the right hand to shovel up all the food on the plate. Maybe crude but very efficient....
Another oddball fact. My grandparents had a "pickle fork" (good for pickled okra and pickles). Two prongs with a spring-loaded plunger. It's a specialized serving fork. You stab the okra or pickle, and push the plunger to place the item on your plate. Forgotten history.
A truly forking amazing episode!
I think I know the movie - or at least A movie - in which a german infiltrator revealed because of the way he eats.
*The Big Red One* with Lee Marvin from 1980. The movie is based on the director Samuel Fuller's own experiences during the war, but I don't know if that includes the detail with the spy. It's a great scene, though.
Wish there was a modern equivalent of Lee Marvin in movies or TV today! Quite a character....!
It came from an older movie with Alan Ladd about the OSS.
In the training US operatives are taught to eat the Continental Style.
Later in the movie one of them switches in a restaurant and is immediately identified.
Learning customs and idiocyncracies of the culture you wish to infiltrate is vital to an agents survival.
Tarantino did an homage to this in "Inglorious Basterds" when a Bittish agent is outed by holding up three fingers for the waitress when Germans use the thumb, index, and middle finger. In German the Thumb is "1" apparently.
@@shawnr771 As I watched the video, I remembered the movie he was referring to, but I saw it many, many years ago and couldn't recall its title. That was how I was made aware that there even WAS more than one method of cutlery use, so I must have been very young. I do remember that the agent in question realized his mistake immediately and signaled his contact that he was about to be arrested by turning up the collar of his jacket...funny how a detail in a scene from a movie I saw 50 years ago (or more) is clear to me, but I couldn't tell you what I had for dinner last night...LOL
@@raypelling6440 too bad he wasn't just yelled at. He's probably been yelled at before 😂
In my high school German class, we learned to use the European eating style even for typical finger foods like burgers, pizza and fried chicken. I mostly still do that to this day, though the prevalence of American fast food has made the practice less popular here in Germany. For me it's so much more hygenic than touching food with your hands.
Usually CZcams's algorithm annoys me but it was spot on recommending *The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered!* I'm addicted. The old photos and paintings really bring the stories to life. It's as if *The History Guy* was born for this. =)
I'm sure that many would disagree (particularly Europeans), the whole passing the fork from one hand to the other makes sense. People are mostly right or left hand dominant. A few people claim to be ambidextrous, and even fewer who actually are. It is natural to preform more complicated tasks with your dominant hand. We hammer a nail with our dominant hand while holding the nail with the other. We write with our dominant hand and hold the paper down with the other. Cutting meat requires more skill than holding the piece of meat still, so our brain would naturally favor using the hand that is more adept at fine motor skills and use the other hand as a glorified paperweight. When the cutting is done, we place that tool aside and prepare for the next task by taking the fork in our dominant hand. Then we eat the piece of steak we just cut into a bite-sized piece. It's actually the more natural way to use utensils. As the video stated, the French switched from this method because an etiquette book said cut and switch method was out of fashion. The European method is based on fashion and cultural etiquette. The American method is based on the natural desire to use the dominant hand to perform a task. It's only eating so there is no real wrong or right way to do it, just the preferred method in the part of the world a person lives in. The biggest surprise to me is that no one ever created a special piece of cutlery to hold the meat while cutting, instead of using the same fork you use to put food in your mouth.
Nope, European here... it is impractical to keep switching hands. The proper use of a fork is soon learned as a child. ;-)
The American method is also based off of what are considered proper manners here. The European way generally requires someone to move their mouth to their fork which is considered poor table manners here in the US. Obviously here in 2020 this may not be as big a deal but in our parents generation proper table manners were a big deal and the fork was supposed to do the work of moving the meal to your mouth. Just look at the picture THG used as an example of the European method, that would be poor table manners in the US.
Stabbing food with a fork and sticking it in your mouth is a complicated task?! Dominant hand ony need apply!! Sounds like a post hoc rationalisation for a habit learnt in childhood.
@@wandpj Did I say "complicated" or, "the more complicated" task? Using a screwdriver isn't very complicated but the average person is going to use their dominant hand to screw in a bolt while using the other hand to hold the nut still. When your hands are performing two different tasks, it's natural for the dominant hand to perform the more complicated of the two. My guess is that when reaching for a doorknob, you use your dominant hand the vast majority of the time. Also, isn't the other way just as much a learned habit?
@@paulhugo1623 Why would it be impractical? Either way gets the job done. Then again, we always seem to think it's the other person's way that is impractical. It would seem impractical to eat rice with a couple of sticks of wood and yet Asian cultures seem to be doing ok with that method.
I'm American and when I learned about the European way of using a fork, it made much more sense to me and I've used it that way ever since. I also got an 18th century style knife and fork, the knife is blunt on the end, but still has a sharp edge for cutting meat, and the fork has two tines, and that works fine. The knife has a bulbous end that you use like a spoon, and you can eat peas with it pretty easily. Apparently in the time period, you'd use the fork to hold the meat while cutting, but use the knife to convey it to your mouth. As a modern person, I use the fork in a modern way and only use the knife to put food in my mouth when the food is soft, like potatoes or other vegetables.
I’m American and did that from the time I was a little kid. Seemed more logical. My parents tried to get me to stop but I wouldn’t! When I got older I discovered other nationalities did it ‘my’ way.
Most American table manners come directly from an American writer named Emily Post, who wrote a book called Etiquette (which was very popular, and is in fact in its 19th edition today) which defined the proper way to do almost everything in life, including eating. She wrote the first edition shortly after the end of the War of 1812, when anti- British sentiment was very high in the US. The manners she described were a deliberate slam at European (especially British) manners. Anything they would do, we would not do (" In America, bread is not used to mop the juices from the plate"). Keeping the fork in the left hand was one of the things she deemed ill-mannered, and so most Americans began to do the Switch.
Hmmm... Interesting, H.G.
As late as my grandfather's childhood, elegant dinners were accompanied by a finger bowl.
I wonder if the finger bowl was the last gasp of the old, pre-fork way?
Do not drink the finger bowl. If you do, do not be flash and order a double ...
Another part of forgotten history would be the development of cabinets and drawers - storage - to organize such things as forks. I’d imagine common people had very little of that, where as wealthier people did. Not to mention the cost , cleaning and general utility. People have no idea how different our lives are now, than even 200 years ago.
History Guy; You need to talk to Southerners on how to use a knife and fork. I was taught that to put food in your mouth with the left hand was sinful, never ever do this. So you hold the meat with your left, and cut with your right, then transfer the empty (important, empty!) fork to your right. Re-pick up the food with the fork in your right, then into the mouth. This is important, to eat any other way means you're a pig, and possibly, worse, a Yankee. I'm ambidextrous, my cousin was a lefty. Didn't matter, you got a wooden spoon upside the head if you didn't eat like this.
God bless to your family, thank you for these wonderful videos.
I’m American but use my fork the European way thanks to US Public Broadcasting. As a kid, I used the US cut-and-switch the way I learned it from family. Then around 2000 I watched an episode of the BBC’s “As Time Goes By” in which Geoffrey Palmer’s character Lionel ate his breakfast during one of the scenes. I noticed how he used his utensils and decided to give it a try because it looked more comfortable and efficient to me - and, for me, it is. I’ve eaten the European way ever since but only recently discovered that pretty much everyone in Europe eats like that. I just thought it was a quirk of that character! Outside of my mom, nobody noticed my etiquette switch, either. I think these days in the US, or at least my Southeastern chunk of it, when we eat we focus more on our own plates and whatever conversation’s going on and don’t stop to watch how people use their forks. Anybody else have a story like this one? I’m curious as to how international pop culture exchanges affect behavior.
Thanks for the video! Awesome as always!
In 1968 when I as 17 years old I was on a trip to Europe. There I saw how they used the fork and knife and seeing it makes a lot more sense I picked up that method. When I was back in the USA and then to my freshman year at the University people looked at me a bit strange as I used the fork in more of the European manner. Some asked me about it and I explained I picked it up in Europe. It does seem to me that there are far more of us in the USA now using it in the European manner. My observation.
IMHO because it's the lazy way to eat... and we have become a lazy people. Those who argue it doesn't matter are wrong. All we are is culture. That is what makes all of us unique - we belong to a group of peoples who share the same customs and manners. If that goes out the window, then we are nothing. We no longer belong. This is all based on selfism, on the desires of the one outweighing the many. My rights, my rights, MY RIGHTS. This is the song of the modern age - it's all about me. And culture is dying all around us because of it... and curiously, this absorption with self is making nobody happy. So yes, it matters.
@@56squadron It's just a fork. No it doesn't. It's only people who obsess with how others see them that care about such things. Individualism is not a disease; it's a cure to the disease that is collectivism.
The use of forks is thought to affect the straightness of teeth adversely...
Using the fork the American-way allows any drips to fall off before being brought to the mouth, and not go down the arm. The fork's curve acts as a break point.
Thank you. There is so much virtue-signaling in these comments I was about to gag myself with a spork.
History Guy; I Like Your Subjects ; On Forgotten History That Deserves To. Be Remembered; It’s So Enlightening, Interesting And Educational. Keep Up The Good Work, Mr & Mrs History Guy & Lady.
Another great doco HG. Thank you.
" in New York City they don't have a lot of food on the table, but they got forks, and knives ---- and they gotta cut somethin' ". Bob Dylan, Talkin' New York Blues.
NUKE the whales
When at home, why even cut? Just stab that steak and bring the whole thing to my face... ommm nom nom nom
The American vs European fork etiquette was my mind blowing fact of the day, just because my whole life I did notice the differences with how people eat their steak, now that I look back on it. In reality a lot of us like to cut and eat with our dominant hand. Keep up the fun and informative videos! 😁Also I didn't know I would be in for a crash course on fork architecture, but I am here for it.
As a lifelong left hander, I am very amused by such silliness. I hold my fork in my left hand normally, and can cut cleanly with my right, and that has never been a problem.
Handwriting,however, caused me much grief in school. Lefties have a hard time around superstitious people, and many of my teachers growing up were VERY superstitious.
If the spork had been invented earlier, we might not be using forks at all.
Highly illogical captain. Wait that is Spock.
Thanks!
I was waiting for someone to mention the spork!
spork is an ice cream fork...check out Ebay for ice cream forks to take a look
"Might" is a pretty strong term there. I've never seen a spork with long enough tines to be useful while eating steak, or other such slabs of meat.
@@jordaneggerman4734 Curoous. I don't think I've ever heard anyone characterize "might" as being a "strong term" before.