[Sca-cooks] forks (was Royal authenticity)

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/29/2003 11:32:41 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
Mark.s.Harris at motorola.com writes:

> I can scoop up food with flat breads or use chopsticks, but I'm not at all 
> sure how to handle many of the foods commonly served at SCA and period feasts 
> without a fork.

Well, you have to remember that not having a fork doesn't mean you have no 
utensils at all.  My husband and I have a table knife, which he uses to cut meat 
and other items into bite-size portions (which would mostly have been done 
already by the time the food arrived at the table in period).  Solid items like 
meat can be eaten with the fingers, being careful to let only the tips of the 
fingers touch the food, and cleaning the fingers on bread if needed.  I also 
use the bread to clean my plate of sauces between courses if I'm not already 
using a bread trencher.  More slippery items, or small things like rice or peas, 
 can be eaten with a spoon, which would also have been used, using a piece of 
bread to push the food into the spoon if needed.  It only sounds difficult; 
once I started doing it, I realized it was usually pretty easy.

As far as pasta, most of the medieval ones I've encountered are already in 
relatively small pieces (ravielles), or in some form that can be cut (like 
losyns), and can then be eaten with a spoon.  Forks seem to be primarily needed for 
dealing with long strands of pasta which have not been cut.

Brangwayna