The fork

I have come to the conclusion that the fork, great invention though it may have been, has serious shortcomings.

Other than its talent for lancing and holding chunks of meat, I think the fork is a rather lame instrument: it has trouble lancing firm vegetables, lets softer foods slip through its tines, allows small objects like olives in a salad to slide away, and it is completely useless in soup!

What do you think?

Craig Claiborne, in "The Chinese Cookbook" (which he co-wrote with Virginia Lee), recounts a discussion he had on the subject of tableware with a Chinese acquaintance. When he asked the Chinese gentleman why the Chinese use chopsticks as the sole eating utensils, the reply was, "we prefer not to butcher at table".

At the one extreme you have the Indian and Thai cultures, where food is only eaten with the bare right hand (left hand being used for other purposes of personal hygiene, and therefore considered inappropriate for use with food). And at the other extreme medieval Europe, where the main utensil was a sharp knife.

And then there's that uncouth modern bastard eating device, the spork.

-Paul W.

Teeth RULE!
Forks are useless for lobster, corn-on-the-cob, ribs and beans. What else is there?

[David M. Bueker]

They make good trail markers...

I knew I'd get agreement on this site full of reprobates like I!

Last night I must have picked up a zillion pieces of food that the fork uselessly allowed to fall off and to the floor. Maybe we need a fork sharpener.

They make good trail markers...

Johnny Carson would be proud.

Sounds like you need a spork.

Sounds like you need a spork.

Is there such a thing? I'll buy it.

Plastic ones at fast-food joints. Probably metal ones at camping equipment stores.

Plastic ones at fast-food joints. Probably metal ones at camping equipment stores.

Oh, that stuff! Useless...plastic sucks and the camping devices are SOOooo teenie.

Thomas, I bought one very similar to this one, six and a half inches long, great for stirring and eating -- and in an emergency I can use it to signal aircraft looking for me!

Seriously, it's very elegant and useful -- worth the money to this OF when overnight hiking beckons.

.No commercial interest; just a happy camper!

When our kids were just little guys we used to tell them at the dinner table to [ahem] "Use the fork, Luke. Use the fork."

When our kids were just little guys we used to tell them at the dinner table to [ahem] "Use the fork, Luke. Use the fork."

Ouch.

A friend of mine got an entire set of these. http://www.dynamic-living.com/knife-fork-combo.htm
I'm not a fan. They seem a bit barbaric to me. Would be handy for someone who only had the use of one hand though.