European religious leaders completely panicked when forks were first introduced from the Byzantine Empire because they believed the tiny metal prongs were literal tools of the devil.

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European religious leaders completely panicked when forks were first introduced from the Byzantine Empire because they believed the tiny metal prongs were literal tools of the devil. The Catholic Church actively condemned the utensil in the eleventh century, aggressively arguing that God had perfectly designed human fingers specifically for scooping up greasy roasted meats and mashed root vegetables. When a Byzantine princess died shortly after bringing a golden fork to Venice, clergymen confidently declared it was a divine punishment for her excessive and sinful dinnerware choices. It took hundreds of years for Europeans to finally stop viewing a basic salad fork as a direct insult to the almighty creator and start using it to avoid aggressively burning their hands on hot pasta