You don't want to hear a joke about a fork and spoon, oh... sporkward,,,
As I've looked at tool over the last few weeks, it has been interesting to see how culture influences tool use, and how tools affect culture. This is possibly most apparent when looking at cutlery and utensils.
It should be obvious. Food is a necessity of life, so tools linked to food were some of the first to be developed, for example the preparation of meat using sharpened stones and blunt rocks. Nowadays, the utensils that perform a single purpose well or many, various purposes adequately are most favourable - Japanese-crafted steel knives are notoriously sharp, and the Chinese tou can split firewood, gut fish, crushing garlic, mincing meat...
Since these tools have been present for many, many years, in various forms or another, they have come to be identifiers of cultures, they define particular practices. The fork was used in Italy during the Middle Ages because pasta was well established. Threads of pasta could be twirled around the three spikes for easier consumption. Chinese cuisine involves the sharing of dishes and chopsticks are the perfect tool to pick at the dishes on the table. Having to pack light for camping is one of the reasons why the spork has become a popular utensil, the other reason probably being the novelty!
An intriguing chicken and egg question can be asked. Not the question of which utensil is best for eating roast chicken and boiled eggs, but rather asking whether the cuisine and culture influence the design of the tool, or whether the tool caused a type of cuisine to develop!
I would like to end by saying how tools, particularly utensils and knives, can be incredibly symbolic of a culture. If a person saw chopsticks, most likely they would think of Eastern Asia and Chinese cuisine. Tongs are associated with outdoor eating, for example barbecues in Australia. Samurai blades are natural links to Japan, martial arts and possible violence (- you know there will be action in a Hollywood movie when the characters get their samurai swords out.
The tools of a population are great identifiers of culture, and culture has a dominating impact on tools and their use. Food is a massive part of culture and therefore it is unsurprising that utensils and cutlery have become so significant.
As I've looked at tool over the last few weeks, it has been interesting to see how culture influences tool use, and how tools affect culture. This is possibly most apparent when looking at cutlery and utensils.It should be obvious. Food is a necessity of life, so tools linked to food were some of the first to be developed, for example the preparation of meat using sharpened stones and blunt rocks. Nowadays, the utensils that perform a single purpose well or many, various purposes adequately are most favourable - Japanese-crafted steel knives are notoriously sharp, and the Chinese tou can split firewood, gut fish, crushing garlic, mincing meat...
Since these tools have been present for many, many years, in various forms or another, they have come to be identifiers of cultures, they define particular practices. The fork was used in Italy during the Middle Ages because pasta was well established. Threads of pasta could be twirled around the three spikes for easier consumption. Chinese cuisine involves the sharing of dishes and chopsticks are the perfect tool to pick at the dishes on the table. Having to pack light for camping is one of the reasons why the spork has become a popular utensil, the other reason probably being the novelty!
An intriguing chicken and egg question can be asked. Not the question of which utensil is best for eating roast chicken and boiled eggs, but rather asking whether the cuisine and culture influence the design of the tool, or whether the tool caused a type of cuisine to develop!
I would like to end by saying how tools, particularly utensils and knives, can be incredibly symbolic of a culture. If a person saw chopsticks, most likely they would think of Eastern Asia and Chinese cuisine. Tongs are associated with outdoor eating, for example barbecues in Australia. Samurai blades are natural links to Japan, martial arts and possible violence (- you know there will be action in a Hollywood movie when the characters get their samurai swords out.
The tools of a population are great identifiers of culture, and culture has a dominating impact on tools and their use. Food is a massive part of culture and therefore it is unsurprising that utensils and cutlery have become so significant.
No comments:
Post a Comment