How To Use Each Utensil | Methodology Mastery | Epicurious

Darra Goldstein says:

Thank you all for so many enthusiastic comments! I can’t manage to respond to each of you individually, so I want to highlight a few things here.

First, a big shoutout to the kitchen staff at Epicurious—they did an awesome job with the food! I don’t have the recipe for the cherry pie but sure wish I did.

Next, you’re right that I discuss the specifically American style of eating. The fork was originally kept in the left hand, first for stabilizing the food while cutting with a knife and then for getting the food into the mouth. This “continental” style is how most Europeans eat. I agree that it’s the most economical way to use the fork, and the way I often use it myself.

When the design of the fork changed in the 18th century—more tines were added, and they were spaced closer together, with an upward curve—so did its manner of use. The French developed the method of transferring the fork from the left hand to the right for putting food into the mouth. This so-called “transfer” method was eventually adopted in the US—probably for reasons of pretension—and in the early 20th century the famous arbiter of etiquette, Emily Post, named it the “zigzag” method. For better or worse, it’s what we Americans seem to be stuck with.

It would be great to have an episode on non-western eating utensils. Even for the western ones, we couldn’t begin to cover all the specialized forks, knives, and spoons that exist. If you look at the late 19th-century silver catalogs produced during America’s Gilded Age, they list as many as 55 different spoons, 50 different forks, and 32 knives—and that doesn’t include serving pieces. It was totally out of control!

I loved your lively defense of the spork and agree that it’s perfect for backpacking. I just find it a struggle to use at receptions when I’m trying to balance a wine glass and still get food easily into my mouth.

On caviar: it does seem counterintuitive that caviar would be sold in tins, but they’re lined with an edible film that protects the roe from any contact with the metal.

On the gendering of utensils: because of its rounded shape and the fact that it’s used to feed infants and invalids, the spoon is associated with nurturing, with the maternal and feminine. The French royal chapel at Chateau de St Germain-en-Laye has a wonderful 17th-century painting of the Virgin Mary feeding the infant Jesus from a spoon.

The fork was initially considered effeminate because it was introduced from Italy, where it had been used by courtesans who were seen as effete. Its use implied homosexuality, notably in regard to Henri III of France, who was a big fan of the new implement. He was mocked in Thomas Artus’s 1605 novel The Isle of the Hermaphrodites.

As for the Catholic church, in addition to St. Peter Damian railing against the use of the fork, St. Bonaventure in the 13th century similarly blamed the death of the Byzantine princess from plague on her use of the fork, considering it “a just punishment from God.” Resistance to the fork was later strong among Protestants, too. You can find the Latin citations for saints Peter Damian and Bonaventure in Carolin Young’s essay, “The Sexual Politics of Cutlery,” in Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500-2005 (Assouline, 2006). This is the gorgeously illustrated catalog for the exhibition of the same name that I helped curate at the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum in 2005.

Sonofshoo says:

Caviar sitting in a metal tin but you can't eat it with a metal spoon lol

CZ says:

I live in Asia and i eat my salads with chopsticks bc i dont like to spear my leaves. They are so much better to pick anything you want. Funnily, no one else uses chopsticks for salads so im always the odd one in the restaurant

Idklol says:

Did i just watch a 22 minute video on utensils yes

Talia El says:

EVERYBODY thinks sporks are useless 😂 i dont know anyone that actually uses it, other than children🤣 so she’s not alone on that one 🤣

mango cat says:

i love how enthusiastic she is towards the history of kitchen utensils

Flameeyes says:

Honestly, this lady looks like getting drunk from delicious food as time goes by hahahaha

Steven Reyna says:

I tell anyone who will listen that sporks are terrible and useless

DJ says:

So a regular spoon is a tea spoon 🥄 I guess

mariohw 85 says:

You know what else have unimaginable infinite purpose "hand"

Also don't there is a utensils for bone marrow

popokatepetul says:

at home we had big soup spoons with sharp front edge (facing kind of little diagonal upwards) , we used it to eat stew and cut the meat inside in smaller easy to eat pieces ☺️ never seen anything like that on tv

CuriousChurro says:

based on my experiences irl and online im convinced all etiquette experts are sassy white haired ladies

a random toilet burning says:

Her: teaches how to use every utensils in the correct way
Me: A F O R K I S A F O R K A N D S P O O N I S A F C K I N S P O O N

aiden minecraft says:

Fork is fork

Kirby Waite says:

Nobody with tablemanners ever butters an entire piece of bread at the table.

Kim Jong-un says:

It's probably worth mentioning the etymology of the word silverware has the root of silver. When rich people flexed with all their fancy forks and spoons and knives it wasn't just "Look how much etiquette and knowledge you need here," but also "Look at how much money I have". Silver is also fairly non-reactive so unlike modern nickel-plated silverware it didn't alter the taste of the food at all. Sometimes if you have very cheap silverware, you can taste the metallic nickel when you're eating.

GeeHah says:

It is interesting that Americans put their knives down and transfer the fork to the dominant hand. This would be considered very uncouth in English, as would cutting your fish with your fork. The knife is supposed to stay in the dominant hand throughout to aid the diner in pushing the food onto the back of the fork. Posh people don't scoop either but stab the food or press on to the back of the fork.

Sul M says:

I'm surprised she used the fork to cut the fish instead of having a whole other knife to do it.