Restaurant sign showing crossed fork and spoon

Restaurant sign showing crossed fork and spoon

A light blue restaurant sign shows a crossed black fork and spoon inside a circle with a white arrow pointing to the eating establishment. The sign is suspended from the side by a pole and blue sky and clouds are visible in the background.While rice farmers and other locals often continue to work straight through the day, tourists visiting Bali are drawn to restaurants by signs posting international symbols such as the crossed fork and spoon seen here.European style silverware was introduced to the Indonesian islands during the age of European exploration and the following Dutch colonial period, from the 1500s to the start of World War II in the early 1940s. Southeast Asians previously cut their food into chunks with kitchen knives before cooking, and then cooked food was eaten by hand. Food is still eaten by hand in many rural or traditional homes, and there is an art to doing this politely without making a big mess. Personal "finger bowls" filled with water are often provided for use at the table before and after eating.