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- Title
THE ECONOMIC ROOTS OF THE AMERICAN “ZIGZAG”: KNIVES, FORKS, AND BRITISH MERCANTILISM.
- Authors
LYBBERT, TRAVIS J.
- Abstract
Relative prices that prevail at critical times can shape culture in precise ways. Building on the work of the renowned archeologist James Deetz, this essay argues that the difference between Europeans’ and Americans’ use of knives and forks at the dinner table is an artifact of British mercantilism, which inflated the price of tableware in the American colonies and preserved the table fork as a colonial luxury long after it was an ordinary utensil in England. Pressures of conformity at the table have locked in these manners, which persist as an enduring effect of the British Navigation Acts. ( JEL A10, D02, F13, N00)
- Subjects
CUTLERY; MERCANTILE system; KNIVES; FORKS; NAVIGATION acts, 1649-1696; DEETZ, James, 1930-2000; TABLEWARE; HISTORY
- Publication
Economic Inquiry, 2010, Vol 48, Issue 3, p810
- ISSN
0095-2583
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1465-7295.2009.00217.x