Oyster Forks
Posted in News/Info on 08/05/2011 08:46 pm by enjanerdI came across this picture and found it distracting for a couple reasons:
- Salad course comes after the meat course
- No napkin
- There’s a fork on the right!
.
After doing some research, I found that this is more commonly referred to as an oyster fork. I couldn’t find any information on why it’s on the right or how it was developed. But after looking at some image searches of oyster forks, I have a theory.
I think they evolved from oyster spoons that conformed to the shape of a shell. I found very few references to oyster spoons in general, and not at all in place settings. I guess they were more effective with prongs, but already had a place on the table back in olden times. Based on this, I believe that a spork would also be placed on the right of a dinner plate in a formal place setting.
08/08/2011 at 15:23
If I remember correctly, the salad course *does* come after the meat course in much of the world (per French influence). Of course “salad” in the French context does not always refer to greens – it usually just means veggies of some sort. It’s the countries colonized by the Brits who’ve switched up the order of eating operations…
(N.B. This obviously isn’t a French style place setting either as it involves both bread plates and butter knives – so now I’m just confused. Sporks for everyone!)
08/08/2011 at 15:33
Oh, I didn’t know that about the French. And they don’t have bread plates? Is that because bread is an integral part of the meal?
Also, I looked up N.B. to see what it stood for and found the suggestion, “Ninja Burger.” Thanks, internet.
08/16/2011 at 09:43
I have *never* figured out the lack of bread plate thing in France. Even at the fancy places you’re expected to put your bread directly on the table. Perhaps that’s why the invented the crumb collector? (Since you don’t use butter on your bread in France ever, I guess the idea is that you won’t actually soil the table cloth – but that’s pure conjecture.)
N.B. = nota bene. I use too many latin abbreviations in my writing – can I blame it on too much time in liberal artsy academia? Though I think I prefer Ninja Burger (which I have a copy of, if you would ever like to play). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nota_bene