Fun Facts from Larousse Gastronomique 1961
FORK. Fourchette-A table utensil designed to pick up meat and other food. It is of very ancient origin as it is mentioned in the Old Testament, in Samuel, but it served first of all as a ritual instrument to grip pieces of meat destined for sacrifices; only later was it used in the kitchen. According to the eleventh century Italian scholar, Damiani, forks were introduced into Venice by a Byzantine princess and thence spread through Italy. They are mentioned in 1379 in an inventory of the French King, Charles V, and Edward II of England had a favorite, Piers Gaveston, who is recorded as having eaten a pear with a fork in the early fourteenth century, but these instances do not mean that forks were in general use. In fact, eating with forks did not become at all fashionable until the seventeenth century.