Cutlery. Who could imagine eating without it? More people than you think! In countries like India, Ethiopia, or many in the Middle East, people rely on their bare hands and bread as part of their culinary heritage. In contrast, East Asia uses chopsticks; forks and knives as essential utensils in everyday meals only seem to have spread worldwide as a result of European colonialism. And yet, cutlery, or ‘couverts’ as they are known in French and Catalan, are a fairly recent invention. Knives and spoons have existed ever since humans started using tools, but their codified, standard use in everyday life is not as widespread as one would think.
For much of its early history, France did not commonly use any utensils at the dining table. In fact, forks only began appearing in French dining culture around the late 15th century. As surprising as this may sound, many traditional French dishes like coq au vin and pot-au-feu, which we would never consider eating without silverware today, were originally eaten with the hands or with bread. This eventually led to the glorification of bread in French cuisine: it served as both an accompaniment and a valued utensil in every dish.
The fork’s journey into European dining culture began much earlier than its adoption in France. The earliest recorded use of the fork at the table in Europe is often traced back to the Byzantine Empire. According to historical accounts, a Byzantine princess introduced the utensil to Venice when she married into a Venetian noble family in the 11th century. The golden fork which she used scandalized the Italians. For centuries, they mocked her for using a tool that resembled the devil’s pitchfork. For the same reason, it never quite left their minds either, and eventually, metal forks started reappearing in the Italian high court. It wouldn’t be until much later that the use of a fork at the dinner table became standard. Like many aspects of European culture today, table manners, as well as the standardization of the trio spoon, fork, knife, took its root during the Italian Renaissance. Many historians note that forks were originally used to facilitate eating pasta.
Its wider adoption in France and eventually the rest of Europe came centuries later through cultural exchange and political alliances. One important figure in this story was Catherine de’ Medici, an Italian noblewoman who played a significant role in shaping French court culture.
Catherine de’ Medici was born in Florence into the powerful Medici family, one of the wealthiest and most influential dynasties of Renaissance Italy. In 1533, she married the future King Henry II of France, bringing with her a retinue of Italian artists, servants, and court customs. Along with new culinary techniques and refined table etiquette, the Italian court also introduced utensils such as the fork, which had by that time already become more common in parts of Italy. When Henry II passed away, Catherine became the leading lady of France by guiding the reigns of her three sons, each too young to rule responsibly, and all of whom died at a very young age.
During this period, she continued to codify these practices among her royal court, before they gradually spread among the French nobility and eventually, due to the impact of the French Renaissance over its neighbors, throughout all of Europe. By the late 1600s’, the French introduced the four-pronged forks people usually eat with today, an improved design that better held food.
Over time, what was once mocked for being impractical and heretical became a standard part of the European dining table, transforming the way people ate and serving as a symbol of evolving table manners and refinement. Soon, the fork became a staple of luxury at a time when eating properly had become attainable for everyone with the ability to eat at all.
The fork and knife revolutionized French cuisine, enabling popular foods like steak, which you would not be able to eat whole without proper utensils to cut it, to become more widespread. These refined table manners spread to the rest of the world when Europe started having colonies and, by the 19th century, reached North America. By that time, the fork’s rise had reshaped both dining and cuisine itself.
