The use of forks has always been slow to spread!
- Evidence show they have been used in the mid-east since about 700 BCE.
- They gained some acceptance in the northern Mediterranean by 1st century C.E.
- However did not catch on in northern Europe till the early 1600's
There was a common belief that one should eat as God intended, with your fingers.
In contrast it took chopsticks less than 150 years to spread from the Uyghur people in western Mongolia to Japan during the Nara period (~ 750C.E.)