Forks Were Once Considered Sinful | Smartest Year Ever (Sept 9, 2025)

How could a simple eating utensil be branded as effeminate, foreign, and Satanic? In this Food Week episode of Smartest Year Ever, Gordy explores the surprising history of the fork—from its scandalous debut in Byzantine courts to the fiery backlash of Italian clergy, who claimed God gave humans fingers for a reason.

Discover why forks were linked to the Devil’s pitchfork, how a Venetian noblewoman’s utensil habits were blamed for divine punishment, and why early travelers mocked anyone who dared adopt the strange little prongs. From Thomas Coryat (the man who brought the fork to England and got ridiculed for it) to the rise of etiquette and hygiene in the 18th century, the fork’s journey is as sharp and scandalous as the utensil itself.

By the end, you’ll see every bite with a fork in a new light—one part table manners, one part centuries-old controversy.

Sources

• Albala, K. (2003). Food in Early Modern Europe. Greenwood Press.
  

• British Library. (2016). Thomas Coryat: The Man Who Brought the Fork to England.
  

• Smith, A. F. (2009). Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine. Columbia University Press.
  

• Visser, M. (1992). The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities, and Meaning of Table Manners. Grove Press.
  

• Wilson, B. (2012). Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat. Basic Books.
  

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Music thanks to Zapsplat.