EATING TOOLS

 

 

The waiter is called to our table to remind him that there are two setups missing.  We cannot enjoy dinner without utensils for eating.  Yes, how easy it is for us to use a fork, knife or spoon.   It’s hard to believe that there was a time when no such cutlery was available.

 During the Stone Age of humankind, sharp stones were formed to cut meat and fruit.  Simple shapes of spoons were made from hollowed out pieces of wood or sea shells that were connected to sticks.  Animal horns were used to consume liquids. The Iron Age introduced the use of metalwork which allowed small “sharped tipped” knives to become commonplace for eating.  The rise of the fork came with the arrival of the 16th Century Italian Renaissance.  Forks were used by nobility.  They were used primarily with exotic foods which brought finger stains that were harder to clean.  The use of the fork spread across Europe by the early 17th Century.  However, the American colonies did not implement its use until the early 19th Century when multi-tinned forks created in Germany and England came to the United States.

 Nevertheless, today there is a great concern about the excessive use of disposal cutlery in the form of plastic utensils.   In 2010, a former researcher for The International Corps Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Narayana Peesapaty founded Bakeys, (sometimes known as Bakey’s) an Indian edible cutlery manufacturing startup company in Hyderabad, Telangana.  His product is an eco-friendly alternative to disposable utensils prepared with plastic, wood and bamboo chopsticks.  His goal is to produce products which will contribute to waste reduction.  His primary concern is that there are an estimated 120 billion plastic utensils thrown in the garbage by Indian diners annually. 

 Bakeys uses a variety of different flours to bake one-time edible spoons, forks and chopsticks which can be consumed after their use.  The products are vegetarian manufactured using all natural ingredients, primarily sorghum as well as wheat, rice, and millet.  The spoons have a shelf-life of 18 months and are made so that they will naturally decompose between three and seven days if not consumed.  The spoons are made with several flavors, such as cumin, mint-ginger, carrot-beetroot and sugar.  As of April 2016, the company is only marketing edible spoons, but plans to expand its operation to begin distribution of forks and chopsticks. 

 Peesapety’s effort to campaign funding has been slow but increasing and he looks forward to his product reaching Europe and the United States. His project is another advance toward awakening an eco-friendlier environment.  Yes, it is true that metal utensils can be washed and reused.  But, think about the thousands of fast food places that distribute the plastic utensils.