The History of Cutlery

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The History of Cutlery. Discover the fascinating history of cutlery—from wooden utensils to ornate silver flatware that shaped European dining culture and social status

The History of Cutlery

In his book Discovering Antiques, Eric Knowles – one of Britain’s best-known experts on antiques and a longtime presenter on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow – explains that Europeans generally ate with their fingers until the 16th century. Gradually, it became customary for people to bring their own personal cutlery when invited to dine. These early utensils were often made of wood or animal horn and considered personal belongings rather than part of the household tableware.

Silver cutlery did not appear until the late 17th century in France, and it served more as a symbol of status and refinement than as a practical necessity. Owning gleaming silver flatware signaled education, elegance, and wealth, and among the European aristocracy and upper middle classes, unwritten rules began to form about how cutlery should be placed on the table and how it should be handled.

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It was, however, the English who fully embraced the idea of formal tableware and developed it into something closer to what we recognize today. Around 1800, it became fashionable to use entire sets of specialized knives and forks during a meal—fish knives, meat forks, dessert cutlery, and a variety of other utensils. Before that, the same knife and fork would be used throughout the meal and simply wiped clean between courses.

In 17th-century England, cutlery was often placed on the table with the blade facing downward, allowing the owner’s engraving or coat of arms to be prominently displayed—an unmistakable declaration of lineage and social standing. Around and after 1800, however, cutlery began to be placed facing upward, and pieces became richly decorated with intricate leaf and shell patterns characteristic of the growing Victorian taste. At the same time, the number of tines on a fork increased from three to four, making the fork both more practical and emblematic of the evolving culture of dining.

From the very beginning, tableware—and cutlery in particular—has not merely been a practical tool for eating. It has also served as a marker of class, taste, identity, and the culinary traditions of each era. The history of cutlery is therefore not just the story of utensils, but the story of manners, fashion, culture, and the way people have expressed themselves at the table through the centuries.

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