Celebrating the real kitchen hero

We always give high praise to new and fancy gadgets like spiralisers and air fryers and avocado slicers but honestly – you can still function without them. Take away the modest fork and you’ve got problems. Have you ever thought where we would be if there were no forks? How would we swirl our spaghetti or spear a piece of meat? And what would we use to beat an egg when there isn’t a whisk around?!

Think about it – a knife can only cut and a spoon can only ‘lift’  (although it can cut too but only if the food is seriously soft), but a fork is the most versatile tool and just like your trusty cell phone, its appearance has changed quite drastically since it first came into being. Take a look at this one that dates back to the Viking era.

It is well documented that prehistoric humans made their own knives out of sharp stones and tools and as we developed, so did the tools we used for cooking and eating. Call me a food history nerd but I often find it fascinating that something so ostensibly insignificant can influence the way our modern culture cooks and eats. The fork is one of those things. And yet – we rarely give it much thought.

Ever been camping or on a picnic and noticed you only packed spoons? Face palm moments like these make you realize that it’s those unassuming trusty old tools that are like your third hand. Let’s not forget that in the USA, one rarely uses a knife to eat after the food is cut up.

My colleagues and I came up with a few dishes that we almost always eat using a fork…

Salads
Pasta
Rice
Pizza (some people are averse to using their hands)
Cake
Scrambled eggs

What are your fork-only dishes? Tweet us @Food24.

Yours in jingling clinking cutlery noises,
Tessa