Interesting facts about the origin of the fork.

The fork was first mentioned in the Middle East in the IX century. An interesting fact, a fork was used to prick fruit so as not to get smeared with juice. However, there is evidence that the fork was born in 1072 in Byzantium in the city of Constantinople in the imperial palace. It was made in one copy of gold, and its handle was decorated with inlaid mother-of-pearl on ivory. This fork was intended for the Byzantine Princess Maria of Iver, who can be considered the inventor of the fork. Considering it humiliating for herself to eat with her hands, she invented it herself. But since the XVII century, the fork has become a necessary attribute at the meals of the Italian nobility and merchants.

In Northern Europe, the fork appeared much later. For the first time in English, it was described by Thomas Coriet in a book about his Italian travels in 1611, but the fork was widely used in England only in the XVIII century. Interestingly, the Catholic Church did not welcome its use, calling the plug "an unnecessary luxury."  Forks with curved teeth first appeared in Germany in the XVIII century. Around the same time, forks with four prongs were mostly used.

 

An interesting fact is that the fork appeared in Russia in 1606, and Marina Mnishek brought it. At the wedding feast in the Kremlin, Marina with a fork shocked the Russian boyars and clergy. The word "fork" finally entered the Russian language only in the XVIII century, and before that it was called "rohatina" and "wilts". And then a fork was a luxury for the rich, spoons and bread were put on the table for each guest at dinner, and a knife and fork were only for honored guests.