Seriously, they've been around for 1000's of years (probably since man first picked up a stick to eat food with), but we've had these recent improvements in eating utensils in the last 1000 or so years, namely forks and spoons and knives.
I can see if you're dirt poor, but why would people use them just out of "tradition"? Reminds me of hipsters, who would reject using a better tool for a job, out of "tradition"?