Were eating awls actually commonly used? I've read that most people just used their hands while nobles started to use forks.I've also read that awls were used essentially as forks, but in other places they are more specifically used for extracting bone marrow.Are eating awls just a meme for ren fair nerds?
>>20439344I dont know
>>20439376Thanks
>>20439344I imagine it'd depend on the date and region like most historical things, but from what little I know, they were just another multipurpose tool like knives. You got mixed research for that reason.I've never been to a ren fair, but I did used to have a set sort of like that picture. I typically just used mine to hold my food still while I cut it, then stabbed it with the knife to bring it to my mouth. Food always slips off the awl too easily. It was really handy for cracking open carcasses and bones n such as well as for flipping meat over the fire.I've found that pretty much the only tools you need to eat are a knife and your hands.
>>20439344Maybe for marrow, that's about it
>>20439344I never knew that word, this is fascinating to me because I have a scifi worldbuilding project and I've been developing an alien offshoot subspecies of humanity that use different utensils, and apparently there's a real-world precedent for what I came up with that I didn't know until now.Instead of a fork they have a sharpened stick that they skewer pieces of food with and a flat square spade-like tool they scoop things up with and use the side of the "awl" to scrape it into their mouth
>>20439618Neat idea, Anon. The square spade does just seem to be a different evolution of the knife. From my reading, most people. If they had a utensil, had an eating knife. It was sharp and would have a flatter blade. When one wasn't stabbing their food and using it like a skewer like >>20439452describes doing, they used the flat of the blade like a scoop
>>20439632It would work for things like sticky rice and porridge and thick meaty stews with no issues. But for dishes with a thinner broth you would probably need a spoon, but from what I've read that's a pretty universal thing that humans come up with from cultures throughout the world, from bone or wood or ivory or whatever.The history of cutlery is actually pretty interesting, you think "oh, it''s just a fork, who cares" when really it's something that's been with us since the dawn of civilization in some form or another
>>20439452I would probably not even bother eating with it, and just use it as a marlin spike.
>>20440055What is that? Not a cooking utensil?
Bump
>>20440422It's a tool used for working with rope. You use the pointy bit to help unpick knots, and you can also use it as a handle to apply more force when you're tightening something down.
>>20439376I don't know either. hopefully one of our 4chan pals will chime in with some wisdom and we'll all become more knowledgeable together!
>>20442543will no-one help the widow's son?
>>20442543>>20442796Right? It's such a wicked looking utensil
>>20439344Poor people had 1 knife because metal was expensive which they would use to slice everything before serving. Then they would eat with wooden spoon because they were cheap. Only idiots would eat with hands food which would dirty them. You would eat bread with spread with hand, not grain porridge or soup.
