Consumers No Longer Forking Out For Knives
Culturally bankrupt shoppers are now buying twice as many forks as knives, according to a British department store. The Brits blame the erosion of their cherished culture on "the American habit of using a single fork." And that's not all. Apparently we're also ruining their understanding and respect for the elegant tradition of proper place settings.
In a study by Debenhams, almost 32 per cent of customers said they bought fewer knives specifically because they now preferred using forks on their own.
An additional 24 per cent were baffled by place settings, while 28 per cent did not possess fish knives and saw no reason for buying them.
Nineteen per cent could not tell the difference between a soup spoon and a dessert spoon.
The retailer is launching a Civilised Dining Campaign to protect the traditional British way of eating (and promote itself in the process).
"Using both a knife and a fork to eat has held this country in good stead for centuries. It's one of the mainstays of being British," said its spokesman, Ed Watson.
"It's about maintaining standards, before the single fork habit becomes ingrained in the next generation. Bad table manners can turn an enjoyable meal into an embarrassment."
Fish knives? Dessert spoons? Silly British folk. Here's what we don't understand: metal utensils? They're so expensive! Why not go plastic utensil shopping in your Chinese takeout bag? They're giving them away for free, people! Oh well, we'll get there eventually. At least we're on the right path.
Why nobody is forking out for knives anymore [New Zealand Herald]
(Photo: billaday)
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I am just absolutely fascinated with the British class system. It is amazing that in this day in age there is still such a division of classes and they really do just look down on the lower classes.
I'm surprised that in our culture, this day and age and all, that we even use forks!
Taco's, Burritos, Hamburger, Chicken, French Fries, Sub sandwiches... None of those need forks nor knives.
Fast food did away with the need for utinsels.
@AD8BC: When I was growing up, my families entire utensil collection consisted of purloined airline silverware -- complete with nice, engraved Delta or TWA logos in the handles. Decent quality too. I think my parents finally upgrade to real silverware sometime in the mid-90s.
Well, to be fair, with every citizen (at least of noble birth) owning a sword, how necessary is a butter knife?
And, since the rabble isn't allowed swords, they make due with oak cudgels. So does that mean British commoners have to use chopsticks to smear their toast?
@Lincolnsbeard33: I'm just absolutely fascinated that people pretend there ISN'T a class system in the US.
@Lincolnsbeard33: Sure. Because the esteem and sympathy that working-class autoworkers received after their execs ran their business to the ground was so much more favorably covered by the media and cordially handled by the political elites when compared to Wall Street employees. Further, the financial industry received a pittance compared to the auto workers and pensioners. I especially enjoyed the fact that Wall Street salaries were permanently reduced, using what finance professionals in Tennessee make, because of the mess they made of their industry.
Nope, no class divisions in the US of A. None at all!
We need to help the poor Brits: let's box up some Sporx and ship them across the pond...
Tsk. Haven't they discovered the spork yet?
It's funny how a company can argue that the future of a nation depends upon that nation's people buying that company's products.
I mean, hell, it's by no means a new concept. But just to think that it's still as popular as ever.
And in related news, 100% of those surveyed did not possess a toothbrush and saw no reason for buying one.
@Lincolnsbeard33: Not behaving like an animal is a class thing? I knew what a proper place setting was when I was a kid.
Mistaking manners and etiquette for the real class system that exists seems like a distraction. Anyone even someone on minimum wage can decide how they want to behave or do things.
Did everyone else grow up eating Frankenberry with their fingers for dinner? There are days I weep for society.
Need to send them a couple million knorks.
Ah the knork. The perfect utensil.
Now if only someone would make a show about hunting, killing, preparing and eating all your food with a knork.
GENIUS!
@socalrob of the 24 and a half century: There is an interesting bit in The End of Overeating where they mention that food manufacturers and chain restaurants have made food mushy or very easy to eat so you can consume more of it in a rapid fashion. Who needs a knife when all your food comes pre-chewed.
"Using both a knife and a fork to eat has held this country in good stead for centuries. It's one of the mainstays of being British,"
Well, thanks for summing up one of the mainstays of being British! Perhaps the accent is another one? And that's it? Are you saying Brits are that shallow? Way to insult your entire country while hawking your wares!
@ophmarketing: I never said there wasn't however it is no where near as bad as it is across the pond. @Trai_Dep: Sorry but after your rampant Apple fan boi comments I can't take anything you read seriously
Piss on the british. I have no use for wannabe nazis that want to point a camera and microphone at absolutely everything. You think people who fought the germans in WW2 would have a little better perspective on things. If this (forks) is what they're worrying about its no wonder they're a 3rd rate "empire".
Meh. Flatware is pretentious.
I'm eating nearly everything with chopsticks these days. Because I can, not because I have to.
"Using both a knife and a fork to eat has held this country in good stead for centuries. It's one of the mainstays of being British."
The other, of course, being the ASBO.
@AD8BC: My other half "borrowed" a fork from a chinese restaurant while I was paying for take-away.
To this day we refer to the place as "The Purloined Fork Restaurant."
@bohemian: It is absolutely a class thing when it is completely 100% pointless and kept up only for maintaining the tradition of the elite classes. Or do you think that having 3 different kinds of forks and 3 different kinds of knives for a single meal actually makes some practical sense? It's like ties. Why do we wear them?
@bohemian: Sniff! Why I DO DECLARE!
... A "proper" place setting is a contrivance--a social norm that developed for no other reason than that it developed. Since it is not rooted in anything truly objective, it can change with time.
@Trai_Dep: Just think for a moment about the upper class trauma. Have you ever tried spreading Cheez-Wiz with a 300yr old sword?
There's a reason why family portraits have a LOT of eye patches.
Spat my tea on my keyboard at that one! I'd forgotten about ASBOs.
I possess just as many knives as I do forks, but the knives rarely come out of the drawer. That'll be because most of what I cook doesn't require a knife. Not sure why I'd need a full place setting when I sit down to eat a bowl of pasta.
Please explain how the fact that some department store is bitching about how nobody buys overpriced cutlery sets anymore is evidence that "they" ("they" as in "all British people", rather than "the Debenhams press office") look down on what you refer to as "the lower classes"...? Not quite seeing it, myself.
@ngoandy:
I was. The story mentioned Britain, see. And British teeth jokes seem to be de rigeur in such situations.
@Lincolnsbeard33: Thanks for announcing so forthrightfully that you're simply trolling for attention. Poor dear.
Being an ex-pat i think the the knife thing is stupid. But the soup/desert spoon i totally agree with. I am to this day amazed that its near impossible to get a soup spoon here. It just makes sense to have one. Don't judge soup spoons until you have used one. It makes a world of difference when eating some scotch broth or good ol tomato soup with some cheese taties.
@psm321: Oh, it has a point: It serves as a social marker saying, "I understand what all these forks are for and therefore am high class."
@psm321: IIRC it started out as a cleanliness thing of not reusing a utensil for the next course and having a utensil suited for the task. Did it evolve into something a bit contrived, sure. If you were to put out every bit of potential silverware it would look like you dumped the drawer on the table. I guess I see the understanding of what a soup spoon is as one of those little things that keeps us from spiraling into Idiocracy.
I don't think ties should be mandated the way they are in the workplace. They are just a clothing accessory and should be worn because someone wants to. I do wish more people cared about their appearance enough to wear suits or ties or hats because they want to, not because they were forced to. But I would love to see fashion dictates loosened a bit at the same time. Mens fashion is too limited socially in too many places.
Maybe they also forgot that people in the UK also have to show ID for buying any kind of cutlery. Even pizza cutters!
But, you know, what does some plucky yank know about anything.
I am missing something here, I see if people decide to use just one fork the number of forks sold would drop. What i fail to see is how that corresponds to a drop in the quantity of knives sold. Don't most of us use a knife and a fork to eat? If this is so then would not the number of knives sold per for increase?
I would appreciate finding out where I am going wrong in my view of this.
@MsAnthropy: Agreed. Debenham's is trying to use class anxiety to browbeat people into buying stuff. One giveaway is the fish fork--which isn't actually a key element of a place setting, and it's actually viewed as a gimmicky Victorian affectation in some circles. So following Debenham's would actually make you non-U rather than U anyway.
Well, I'm forked.
First off, eating with both a fork and a knife is something that is often necessary. But why should I place a knife on the table if I'm eating pasta? I don't need a knife for pasta. If my meal requires cutting, I need a knife. If it doesn't, why should I get a knife, so it can sit there?
Place settings have a time and a place...if the restaurants I go to want to give me two forks and two spoons, that's great. I don't have to wash the extra utensils. But when I'm at home, that's my time and money spent washing spoons and forks just because I didn't want to use two different forks for my entree and salad. No thanks. I'll just use one fork.
I have to agree, I do prefer eating soup with a soup spoon because of the shape and I haven't ever seen them at retail. Not even Ikea carries them.
Now would you be so kind as to enlighten us as to what cheese taties are? Thanks!
I work in the middle of nowhere Central America, often with teams of British scientists - and you can always tell the Brits from the Americans because of the cutlery usage: even in the middle of a backpacking trip, the Brits are using their knives and forks perfectly. I'm using my filthy fingers, feeling a bit like a marine, poking fun at them. I've often wondered about people so obsessed with cutlery. That can't be normal.
@MonkeyMonk: that would explain where my collection of airline utensils found at thrift stores came from. thanks!
@smileboot: Some restaurants have them. Good luck finding them at a regular retail store. I think the only stores I have seen them in was a restaurant supply store. I looked at Macy's to see if the more expensive sets carried them and no luck.
[www1.macys.com]
Soup spoons, dessert forks, even iced tea spoons have routine uses and benefits. Fish forks and other obscure cutlery not so much.
Soup spoons are rounder and deeper than a regular spoon and work better for scooping up liquid.
Dessert forks are shorter and work well for grabbing smaller bites of desserts without them falling apart.
Iced tea spoons work great for things like malts, iced coffee and well, tea.
Just doing my part to keep the common man down through proper cutlery!
I don't get it either; I'll use a knife when I NEED to cut something or I have a particularly messy burger that's going to spill all over me if I don't cut it into bite-size pieces. Otherwise, what's the stinking point?
I can't stand class lines but unfortunately they're alive and well. I moved from the Mid-Atlantic to the South last year and the upper-crust southerners can't stand me. I'm a slightly eccentric working class girl who gets along great with the rednecks and middle class types but the country club set down here might as well BE British. They hate me with a passion for some kooky reason.
Once me and the hubby's income goes up I'm tempted to go into the swankiest country club in the area and pull an Al Czervick act. Now THAT would make me feel really good!
I never buy silverware. I just pocket them at restaurants.
I have a complete set for eight that were provided courtesy of "76" truck stop restaurants