The Decline of the Spork

Sitting in my SharePoint workshop today I was staring down at my hotel breakfast hobby-kit and noticed I had three utensils… a fork, spoon and knife. Of course that is all the distraction my brain needed and off it went on a tangent.

I began to think about my favorite eating utensils, chopsticks, spatulas, fingers, etc. Then I came to the spork. I began to think about it and I hardly ever see the spork anymore. I remember it most back in elementary through high-school. I remember the small little package of a napkin, knife, salt/pepper and a trusty spork (usually white as a brown colored spork conjures questions of cleanliness). Truly the spork is an under-rated invention in the world of cutlery. Best of both worlds in one implement… spoon and fork. You can quickly shift from stabbing to scooping with zero delay. No need to balance the unused utensil on your plate, leg or lap. No fear of the unneeded implement falling to the ground and leaving you to try and eat your green beans with a spoon. Frustrating.

I’d like to actually meet the inventor of the spork. Just to say thanks. He definitely made life easier.

Now I sit and wonder why the spork has declined in popularity in recent years. It’s such a handy thing. Now I know you can’t go stacking bean after bean on it like a traditional fork but it’s far less frustrating than scooping them with a spoon. A spork is a spoon with a bite in my opinion. We need more sporks. But we need useful sporks.

The spork to the left I do not find very useful. At some point you are gonna get food on your hand unless you hold it in the middle which causes a loss of control. This could cause even more problems. I think the best design is the original. dual purpose head… good handle for control. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it I say.

I think I’ll ask my kids if they know what a spork is. That will be the litmus test of spork usage in the 21st century. Of course it may have gone the way of the Dodo or ‘jorts’ (jean shorts).

No matter what its fate may be, the spork has a special place in my vault of strange memories.