How do you classify eating utensils and odd hybrids like sporks (spoon-fork), spifes (spoon-knife), knorks (knife-fork), sporfs and splayds(spoon-fork-knife)?
One way is to classify by utensil and combination of utensils:
- Fork: semi to solid foods
- Spoon: liquids to semi-solid foods
- Knife — solid foods (for preparation)
- Spork: Fork-Spoon - liquids to solid foods
- Knork: Fork-knife– semi-to solid foods (including cutting)
- Spife: Spoon-knife — liquids to solid foods (cutting)
- Splayd: Fork-spoon-knife — liquids to semi-solid to solid foods
Another way to diagram this is by food type and utensil:
This second diagram better shows the scope of what happens when utensils are combined: while spoon has the largest extent (liquids to semi-solid foods), combining it with a fork (spork) results in lowest common denominator application, while combining with a knife (spife) results in even more restricted use (cutting and scooping kiwi fruit, for example). Combining a knife and fork results in a seemingly restricted usage, with marginal utility over a knife alone.
Categorizing also helps understand potential impact of new product features — how does combining utensils help the customer? For campers, it might mean fewer things to pack using a spork. For kiwi growers, it’s a convenient way to cut open and eat products (Zespri, a New Zealand based grower includes a spife in every case of kiwis). But other combinations (knorks) seem to have marginal utility and appeal and may actually function less well than individual fork and knife.
Check out my Pinterest board on the various eating utensil combinations.