The History of Forks

It’s an item we all use daily, but do you know how the fork came to be? Originally used solely as a cooking utensil, it wasn’t until the Middle Ages that wealthy families in the Middle East and Byzantine Empire began to use them for eating. Forks were considered by Europeans to be so decadent that the Greek bride of an Italian nobleman was shamed by the local clergy for using one at her wedding feast! Eventually, the scandal wore off and forks became commonplace in Italy and Western Europe as a whole, but it wasn’t until the 1850s that forks achieved popularity in America.