Consider the Fork: How Technology Transforms the Way We Cook and Eat

by Bee Wilson

The table fork is far less time-honoured than such objects as the colander, the waffle iron, the bain-marie. In the great scheme of things, eating with prongs is a novelty.

Forks in our sense were considered odd until the seventeenth century, except among Italians. Why did Italy adopt the fork before anyone else in Europe? One word: pasta.