Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat

The history of how we prepare our food is tied together with culture. Different tools and utensils arose due to different needs. Knives were some of the earliest tools for preparing food. Before knives, loss of teeth could be a death sentence. (This makes me wonder if the high quality teeth seen in remains is due to survivor bias. People without good teeth would not live to adulthood.) Pottery arose in many regions to facilitate cooking with liquid over flames. However, some cultures in Polynesia went away from pottery in favor of alternate eating methods. 

In some places, knives became uncouth, thus leading to a gradual proliferation of eating implements and "dumbed down" knives. Special "eating knives" were still used for cutting steak. However, duller butter knives were common with other uses. In China, food was prepared in smaller bits and chopsticks were the implement of choice. In many places, such as India, food has traditionally been consumed with hands. 

Different implements also give rise to different taboos. In Japan, using another person's chopsticks is frowned upon (thus leading to a huge market in single use chopsticks.)

A typical kitchen contains tools from various time periods. An attempt to show a kitchen containing only tools from that time would be anachronistic. There are typically many tools and appliances from the past together with things that are new. 

New gadgets may not have lasting power. The eggbeater was the subject of extensive innovation. However, a whisk still performs the job well. Some innovations do help and have long term benefit. Others may encourage us to change our way of cooking - for the better or worse. Sometimes we stick to traditions enforced by the tools of the time. Other times, we seek to change without understanding the benefit of the old process.

Consider the Fork provides many interesting tidbits as it covers the evolution of how we prepare our food and the tools that have helped us do it.