origin of western names for eating utensils


Did Americans introduce western words for forks, spoons and knives?




Brits did.

Perhaps you are starting to wonder what foods exactly the English could have
introduced to other countries, but what was actually imported was formal
French cuisine with British table manners.

According to [this
page](https://web.archive.org/web/20160918113858/http://www.maroon.dti.ne.jp:80/schwarze-
katz/jphist/jphist07.html):

>
> 料理は、イギリスでも王室の行事や外交接待で出される料理はやはりフランス料理をベースとしていたので、イギリス経由といっても基本はフランス料理でしたが、ビーフシチューやビーフステーキのように、英語の料理名で日本に定着した洋食も多くあります。
>
> _As for dishes, many Western recipes have taken hold in Japan with English
> names, such as "beef stew" or "beef steak", despite the fact that those
> introduced via Britain was French in origin, as meals served at royal
> ceremonies or diplomatic receptions were likewise based on French cuisine
> even in Britain._

Note that English names of cutlery are associated with Western foods. For
example we have traditional Japanese spoons (匙【さじ】) or Chinese soup spoons
(蓮華【れんげ】) that are never called スプーン.

