List of eating utensils

History

In some cultures, such as Ethiopian and Indian, hands alone are used or bread takes the place of non-edible utensils. In others, such as Japanese and Chinese, where bowls of food are more often raised to the mouth, little modification from the basic pair of chopsticks and a spoon has taken place. Western culture has taken the development and specialization of eating utensils further, with the result that multiple utensils may appear in a dining setting, each with a different name and purpose. With the evolution of people's eating habits, further modification continues to take place, mostly in the West.

List of utensil types

• Spoon**/**Tablespoon – List of types of spoons
• Fork – Western/Southeast Asian utensils
• Knife
• Chopsticks – East and Southeast Asian utensil
• Skewer
• Tongs
• Toothpick / Cocktail stick
• Drinking straw
• Food pusher - a utensil with a blade set at 90° to the handle, used for pushing food onto a spoon or fork

Utensils for specific foods

Some utensils are designed for eating or preparing specific foods:

• Butter knife
• Cake fork
• Soup spoon
• Crab cracker
• Crab fork
• Fish knife
• Fondue fork
• Grapefruit knife
• Grapefruit spoon
• Lobster pick
• Snail tongs and forks
• Nutcracker
• Ice cream scoop
• Steak knife
• Tongs for:
  • Sugar (Sugar tongs)
  • Asparagus
• Honey dipper
• Meat claws (used to shred barbecue meats such as brisket)

Combination utensils

Main article: Combination eating utensils

Over time, traditional utensils have been modified in various ways in attempts to make eating more convenient or to reduce the total number of utensils required. These are typically called combination utensils.

• Chopfork – A utensil with a fork at one end and chopsticks/tongs at the other.
• Chork – Pointed and slightly curved tongs, which can be used like chopsticks (as pincers) or as a fork (for spearing). A different kind of chork is a fork with a split handle, which can be broken in half to make two chopsticks.
• Forkchops – Used in a pair, these are basically a pair of chopsticks with a small fork and knife on the non-pointed ends.
• Spoon and Chopstick Hybrid – Pointed and slightly curved tongs, which can be used like chopsticks or as a spoon.
• Knife and Chopstick Hybrid – Pointed and slightly curved tongs, which can be used like chopsticks or as a knife.
• Knork – A knife with a single tine, sharpened or serrated, set into the anterior end of the blade.
• Pastry fork – A fork with a cutting edge along one of the tines.
• Spifork - A utensil consisting of a spoon, knife, and fork.
• Spoon straw – A scoop-ended drinking straw intended for slushies and milkshakes.
• Sporf – A utensil consisting of a spoon on one end, a fork on the other, and edge tines that are sharpened or serrated.
• Spork – Spoon and fork
• Splayd – Spoon and fork and knife
• Spife – Spoon and knife.
• FRED - Can opener, bottle opener, and spoon combination issued by the Australian Defence Force.

Disposable utensils

Prepackaged products may come with a utensil intended to be consumed or discarded after using it to consume the product. For instance, some single-serve ice cream is sold with a flat wooden spade, often erroneously called a "spoon", to lift the product to one's mouth. Prepackaged tuna salad or cracker snacks may contain a flat plastic spade for similar purposes.

References

References

1. "Food Pushers".
2. Oulton, Randal. (2018-05-10). "Asparagus Tongs".
3. "And all I got was this lousy.. Chopforks!". sinosoul.com.
4. Gim, Sarah J.. (2007-02-16). "Chork: Chopstick forks for your Asian fusion cuisine". Slashfood.
5. Cognito. (2007-03-27). "The Chork - AKA The Chopstick Fork". Trendhunter.com.
6. (2010-06-02). "From Spork to Chork « Will BLANK For Food". Willblankforfood.net.
7. Tisah Tucknott. "Cheater Chopsticks - Forkchops Lets Westerners Eat Like Asians (GALLERY)". Trendhunter.com.
8. "Combination eating utensil".
9. "Spifork".
10. "TESS -- Error".
11. "The Nutella Spife". The Cutlery Review.
12. "Australian field ration eating device {{!}} Australian War Memorial".