15. People in the Middle Ages did not always eat with their hands, many consumed their meals using cutlery akin to our own.
Although we commonly imagine our ancestors barbarically ripping meat from bone by hand, the truth of Middle Age dining is more civilized. Spoons are among the oldest utensils fashioned by humans. Archaeological evidence from as early as 1000 BCE in Ancient Egypt suggests the existence of ivory, wood, and slate spoons, whilst spoons made from bronze and silver have been discovered in the territories of the Greek and Roman Empires. First documented in the Middle Ages in 1259, listed in an itinerary of Edward I’s possessions, the use of the instrument had become sufficiently widespread that by the Tudor period it was customary to present a christened infant with the gift of an Apostle Spoon.
Likewise, the earliest known forks originated from Ancient Egypt, but also appear in China who would proliferate the device along the Silk Road into the Western world. Recorded during the 11th century in Venice, a debate raged in the Italian city regarding the question of whether using cutlery was an act of defiance against God, for “God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks – his fingers.” Despite this brief religious turmoil by the 14th-century modern cutlery was commonplace within European households, evidenced by the alteration in dental remains as the overbite developed to compensate for the use of table forks.