The rise of the fork coincides with the rise of foods you shouldn’t touch with your hands.
Victorians were extremely ingenious in devising new forks for specific foods - and the fashions which dictated which foods to eat with which utensil.
If you wanted to unmask imposter noblemen all you had to do was present them with a range of forks, a bowl of olives, and wait to see whether they manage to p(r)ick the right one.
Olive Fork, 1847, Rogers Brothers, Brooklyn Museum of Art
Pickle fork, Sheffield, 1897-1898, copyright Victoria and Albert Museum
To contain this fork madness, in the United States, in 1926, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and Sterling Silverware Manufacturers impose a 55 cap on the number of pieces in any silverware pattern.
Too bad for the mango, strawberry, asparagus and many other forks which probably didn’t make the cut.
Sometimes touching your food isn’t just bad manners but taboo.
Fijian Cannibal Forks used for eating human flesh
In Fiji, heads of the tribe and priests were considered too holy to touch food. So during their cannibalistic ceremonies they had to feed themselves using special wooden forks. Considered sacred relics, these forks were kept in the Spirit House and were only used during cannibal ceremonies.
Forks you use to put food you don’t want to touch into your mouth. I love a paradox.
Today, dive into online collections to see what kind of special ‘can’t touch this’ forks you can find.
Here are some fascinating online fork collections to get you started:
Enjoy browsing through crazy fork collections today and do show your finds on Instagram or Twitter, using the hashtag #kramerseye and sharing where you found them.