Technology

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Video

Materials

• 1 whittling knife

Explanation

Knives, forks and other cutlery are simple tools we really take for granted. Only when we are without them do we notice how accustomed we are to eating with them and how well designed they are.

Knife-like tools have been used by humans for at least 2.5 million years. The invention of the table knife, i.e. the rounded knife you eat with today, is often attributed to the French cardinal Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu in the 17th century, although this is not entirely certain. According to the story, the cardinal got tired of guests picking their teeth with kitchen knives, and asked the kitchen staff to file off their sharp tips.

The fork seems to be a much newer invention than the knife. The first known forks originated in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and are thus only a couple of thousand years old. These were not used to eat with but to move the food, for example to and from the fire. The earliest known forks used for eating are from around the 4th century, and were used in the Byzantine Empire (roughly "the Eastern Roman Empire"). It was not until the 11th century that the fork reached Italy and it was not until the 18th century that most people in Europe ate with a fork.

Test and improve

You have now built your first prototype. There are probably improvements to be made. In order to keep working on your design, try answering any of the following questions.

• How will a fork with one, two, three or four tips work?
• How will a sharpened knife work for eating?
• How will a knife or fork without a handle work?
• What should you do to eat soup?

Variations

If you want to avoid using a knife, you can actually get perfectly okay cutlery just by picking good branches and breaking off parts of them.

Only the imagination puts a stop to what other kitchen tools you can make from natural materials you find in the forest. Spoons, plates, bowls, mugs, straws, whisks, rolling pins, ice cream scoops, tweezers - anything is possible (but a garlic press can be a challenge).

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