The devil is in the fork. He is often pictured with a pitchfork in hand and probably uses it to hurl the condemned into the fires of hell. While the spoon has a vegetarian vocation, the fork is a carnivorous symbol. Long ago certain restaurants were called The Luck of the Fork. That meant that for a sou,' one could dig one's fork-just once-into the pot, having to be content with whatever it brought out.
The spoon, on the contrary, acts without malice, without risk. It softly caresses the surface of the liquid, skimming it without violence. In the spoon there is a roundness, a concavity, a softness that evokes the tender and patient act of the mother feeding baby food to her little one.
The spoon and the fork each has its holiday gathering. The spoon symbolizes the long and luminous night before Christmas. The fork pierces the short and rowdy night of New Year's Eve.
Between mouth and spoon there is often great trouble.
MEDIEVAL PROVERB