Last night, I was chatting with Suzie and a few friends over drinks when the topic of sporks came up. Initially I thought it was just a fobby slip of the tongue. But no, I did hear right. Sporks actually do exist! Apparently, this ingenious utensil is deeply enmeshed in American culture… and I’ve been completely unaware. My friend’s girlfriend Nadia told me that while she was that growing up, the spork was her must-have lunch box utensil.
So for you fobs that are clueless about this American phenomenon: a spork is a hybrid between a spoon and a fork. It’s pretty handy for those too lazy to switch between spoons and forks.
Its origins are a bit hazy, but Wiki says sporks have apparently been mass manufactured since the late 1800s. Samuel W. Francis issued a US patent for one of the earliest forms of the spork in 1874.
For spork fans out there, I found a Facebook fan group that celebrates the genius of Spork. Join it today!
(Thanks to Lu who inspired the spork discussion! It’s apparently the only cutlery he has in his house.)
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That’s the utensil to use in US High Schools and Junior High during lunch hour. We even used to have spork fights. That’s where you bend the tip, the part where you hold the spork, and use it to try to smash the other plastic spork into pieces by pulling on it and letting go so it hammers down on the head of the other spork.
Where I’m from we call it a splade. I’m not sure if there’s a difference; perhaps a splade has a straighter edge as opposed to the rounded spork.
I like the spork because you can eat rice with it. Rice-eating with a fork is annoying and difficult. However, noodle-eating is not so easy with a spork.
Haha; Emily, thats so funny that you just found out what a spork is =)
omg sporks are the best United used to have them back back in the day!
@Duncan it’s proof of my fobbiness!
This article brings me back to my glory days as the undisputed king of spork fighting or “crackseeds or cracksies” I think it was called in Philly. It’s been 17 years since my reign left shattered plastics and dreams so my memory is kinda foggy, but definitely good times and one of the simpler pleasures in life.
KFC has sporks so I can eat my mashed potatoes and coleslaw at the same time =)