SC - Duello by Cheese Cake; High Noon in Trimaris, Spoons at the Ready

[Philip & Susan Troy]

> A question for the group:  While in Europe, in discussing medieval history
> with a very well educated historian, he questioned me as to what utensils I
> eat with during feast.  I explained them; a two prong fork, a spoon and
> knife.  He was quick to chastise me in saying that forks were not used in
> the middle ages; but rather only a knife and a spoon.  One side of the
> knife was used to scrape the food from the plate onto a spoon, or it was
> eaten directly off the knife.  I was under the impression that a two prong
> fork was introduced in early middle ages.  Can anyone verify this
> information with sources?

According to Henisch and Dembinska, eating forks were used in the
Byzantine Empire during period, but in Western and Northern Europe they
were relatively rare in period, though not completely unknown. They are an
example of something that is very common in the SCA but was relatively
uncommon in period.

I wonder what he meant by 'one side of the knife was used to scrape the
food from the plate onto a spoon' as I eat my feasts with spoon and knife
only generally and have not experienced this. Directions in the manners
manuals seem to indicate that some things were also eaten with the hands,
I believe.

The Encyclopedia Britannica says that two prong forks were invented by the
Romans and that two pronged SERVING forks were used in the middle ages.
They say that the knife and fork replaced the traditional 'pair of pointed
table knives', whatever that means.

- -- 
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
"Our kingdom is a garden and such gardens are not made/By singing "Oh how
beautiful!" and sitting in the shade..." --Kipling, "Glory of the Garden"