Classy Mumsnetters, tell us how many forks are on you table?

[JustPassingThyme]

Saw this interesting video by Lucy Worsley about the history of forks in England, she also talks a bit about napkins, never serviettes!

Apparently once everyone had forks, it became vulgar middle class and trying too hard if you had lots of forks on the table. I already knew fish knives and pastry forks are considered beyond the pale to some. I'm curious how far the fork phobia goes?

Can the truly posh among us reveal how many forks are supposed to be on the table? Also who actually gives a fuck fork? Have you ever gone to someone's house for dinner and been aghast at the amount of cutlery they provided?

My working class husband refuses to countenance the idea of me buying cake forks. I think I already pushed it too far with the grapefruit spoons...

I love cutlery! No idea why. But DH refuses to use a fish knife for fish but doesn’t think twice about using a cake fork for cake. I like vintage and unusual things. My bone handle silver Victorian pickle fork is a prized possession 🤣 Think that probably makes me a bit naff but I’m happy so… 🤷‍♀️

It depends on the number of courses. Smoked salmon starter, meat course, pudding, I'd expect there to be three.

I like fish knives and forks and soup spoons. I don't enjoy soup or fish with the wrong cutlery.

I like a pastry fork but my ancestry is continental. The only other people I have come across who use pastry forks are German/Austrian too.

For a formal meal - 3 - starter, main and dessert - wouldn't fanny around with fishy forks

Surely it depends on type of meal and quantity of courses? In traditional French restaurants each set of cutlery is for 2 courses maximum, whereas in the U.K. it’s a set per course. If I’m serving a serving a starter I’d lay cutlery for that and the main plus dessert. I’ve been to very posh dinners and you get one per course. of course in our normal day to day meals are forked in from bowls on our laps watching house of games!

I can’t listen to Lucy Worsley. Is she just trying to revisit U/non-U stuff about the quantities of cutlery those ghastly nouveaux riches have, ‘Phone for the fish knives, Norman’ etc?

I can’t listen to Lucy Worsley Me neither.

Fish knives are very MC. There's a story that George V went to lunch at a private house and was surprised that there were fish knives for the fish course, as the RF used ordinary knives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_knife

I don't use cake forks for cake, just ordinary ones. I might get a set now.

I‘ve always gone with enough forks to ensure that you have a clean one for each courses as required.

usually that is starter and main. Unless of course you’re serving soup. Dessert fork only if warranted - always for a tart never for a panacotta. I’m not a fan of a fork for a cheese course. So I guess that answer is usually two, never more than three.

Fish cutlery is a Victorian nouveau riche affectation and distinctly ‘non-U’. I’d generally expect the number of forks to correspond with the number of courses though.

Seems like a silly question. It’s entirely dependent on how many courses are being served. Most days, we have one course, so each place setting has one fork.

If we are hosting friends, we’ll normally have forks for starters, mains and, sometimes, pudding.

German here:

I have normal forks, fish fork/knife and cake forks - in normal stainless steel and silver - apart from fish forks/knives.

Silver isn't used anymore though but I grew up with the silver ones used for Christmas.

I eat panfried salmon, fish and chips or fish with pasta with a normal cutlery set though but if I do a whole trout for example I use the right cutlery. They are a lot better to get the tiny bones away from the meat.

If I cook more than one course than I have a clean fork for each course, so 2-3 depending if I have need a cake fork or a dessert spoon.

I have cake forks (inherited from my grandmother), soup spoons and say napkin never serviette (although I don’t actually own any napkins!).
We don’t generally have more than one set of cutlery on the table at once, mainly because our meals are a single course, if I was serving multiple courses I would have the appropriate amount of cutlery

Surely the question should be how many types of fork do you own if you are interested in class distinctions? 😂 The number of forks is dependent on how many courses you are serving and what the courses are. A fork isn’t very useful if you are serving soup 😂

DM has the “family silver”, which sounds posher than it is. I don’t think there are any special forks other than for carving or serving. There are some other random pieces of cutlery though, like a Georgian sugar sifter spoon.

I have the second best silver 😂 A canteen of cutlery given to my DF when he retired. Now that has all kinds of fancy forks - salad serving forks, table forks, fish forks, fruit forks, pastry forks, dessert forks (even the name is non-U 😂).

I confess that I would be slightly embarrassed to use the fish forks in company. 😂 I guess caring about what other people think is just as non-U as owning fish forks 😂 So you can probably conclude from that that I am not classy nor posh. Nor smart, for that matter… 😂 (in anticipation of someone coming along to correct my non-U English).

All you need is a spork. It will suffice for everything - well it does for me.

I have the second best silver 😂 A canteen of cutlery given to my DF when he retired. Now that has all kinds of fancy forks - salad serving forks, table forks, fish forks, fruit forks, pastry forks, dessert forks

This sounds like my dream! I think I must have been a butler in a previous life! 🤣

I trust you have grape scissors madam ..

Can you even claim to be classy if you don't have asparagus tongs?

I've got silver grape scissors. Obviously

Cake forks don't work for left handed people, the cutty bit is on the wrong side😠

I surely can’t be the only one with oyster forks?

My Mum had these! Clearly where I get my cutlery hoarder tendencies from 🤭