A Little History about Silverware

A little bit of history about silverware:

The history of silverware is dated from as far as 5000BC. It started with sharpened stone blades fitted into wooden handles. Together with the development of civilizations, the silverware developed as well.

Silverware had a great transition from stone to metal, silver, stainless steel, or even gold.

Not only fitted, at first with wooden handles but as well decorated with precious metals and handmade decorations.

If the stone knives were essential for hunting and surviving, the spoons initially were craved in the wood and used for the process of cooking the meals. Even the term spoon, comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “spon” which means “a chip of wood”.

Knives and spoons were both part of a traveler’s kit; hosts were not expected to provide cutlery for their dinner guests. And as late as the Middle Ages, common people still ate with their hands, using four-day-old pieces of bread called “trenchers” to push their food. The wealthy used utensils as much to impress as for practicality. Men ate with their personal knives (also handy in case of a dinnertime dispute) and cut the food for their ladies. Presaging the development of the fork, diners would sometimes employ two knives, one to stab the food and another to slice.

Forks appeared to be, in the beginning, as a method to remove the meat from the boiling water. Catherine de Medici popularized forks in France when she brought them back from Italy in 1533 upon her marriage to the future Henry II.

The cutlery was vastly used as a method of trading and this is how it became popular and used everywhere in the world.

Nowadays, cutlery can be found in various sizes, shapes, colors, and components.

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