This Day in History: The Fork was introduced to American dining by Governor Winthrop on this day in 1630, though it did not really catch on until the American Revolution a century and a half later. Before forks people used their fingers, or simply a knife. Some used bread (trenchers) to scoop up food with. The fork was a relative late-comer to Western dining, unless you were Italian. But by the mid-14th century, Italians had taken to eating pasta with a fork, which makes sense if you've ever eaten spaghetti. Even with the natural pairing of pasta and the fork, many continued to eat spaghetti by the fistful. Some early critics shunned the fork as it resembled the devil's pitchfork. Around the beginning of the 18th century, Louis XIV forbade his children to eat with forks.
When forks became more mainstream, the well-to-do would actually walk around with a small case that handled their cutlery, including their forks.
There are now many different types of forks, including the Asparagus fork, Barbecue fork, Beef fork, Berry fork, Carving fork, Cheese fork, Chip fork, Cocktail fork, Cold meat fork, Crab fork, Dessert fork, Dinner fork, Extension fork, Fish fork, Fondue fork, Fruit salad fork, Granny fork, Ice cream fork, Knork, Meat fork, Olive fork, Oyster fork, Pastry fork, Pickle fork, Pie fork, Relish fork, Salad fork, Sardine fork, Spaghetti fork, Sporf (a spoon, a fork and a knife combination) Spork (patented 1874), Sucket fork, Tea fork, Terrapin fork and a Toasting fork.
In fork etiquette, the European style has the diner with the fork in their left hand, while in the American style (which is also observed in France) the fork is shifted between the left and right hands.
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