Difference between three and four tines of fork

Triple tines are small forks, often used for dessert snacks. Four tines are the most common and function as an eating tool.

Beginning in the sixteenth century, Europeans began using forks for eating. The first forks were two-tined and used to cut and divide large plates of meat, and then three-tined forks were introduced. Forks began to be reserved for the aristocracy, while ordinary peasants still used their hands to grab their food.

The four-tined fork was born in the 18th century, and its appearance is related to pasta. King Ferdinand II of Naples, Italy, was so fond of pasta that he once ordered that foreign guests be served with spaghetti. However, at that time, spaghetti was a commoner's food, and the most common way to eat it was to grab it with your hands, and it was a bit difficult to have a three-tined fork to eat it gracefully.

The traditional fork was thus improved by Ferdinand II's valet, the ceremonial officer Spartacci, who invented the four-tine fork that could easily roll up solid pasta. This four tines are really very good fork also gained the popularity of the people, in the ordinary family table is also slowly popularized.