Food plate with structure for accommodating fork tines

Abstract

An article including a food plate including a surface for placing food thereon, the surface including an orderly series of protrusions spaced from one another, wherein a spacing between adjacent protrusions equals a distance between tines of a fork.

1 . An article comprising:
 a food plate comprising a surface for placing food thereon, said surface comprising an orderly series of protrusions spaced from one another, wherein a spacing between adjacent protrusions equals a distance between tines of a fork.   
   
   
       2 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein said protrusions are spaced from one another by furrows. 
   
   
       3 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein a height of said protrusions is equal to or greater than a height of tines of the fork. 
   
   
       4 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein said food plate is corrugated with furrows on another surface opposite to said surface for placing food thereon. 
   
   
       5 . The article according to  claim 1 , further comprising at least one heating wire disposed in at least one of said protrusions. 
   
   
       6 . The article according to  claim 1 , comprising at least two sets of protrusions, wherein in one set the protrusions are spaced from each other by a first distance and in another set the protrusions are spaced from each other by a second distance different from said first distance. 
   
   
       7 . The article according to  claim 1 , further comprising a fork whose tines are distanced from each other by the spacing between adjacent furrows. 
   
   
       8 . The article according to  claim 7 , wherein a width of said tines of said fork is at least double a height of said tines substantially over a length of said tines. 
   
   
       9 . The article according to  claim 7 , wherein tips of said fork are blunt. 
   
   
       10 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein said protrusions comprise a matrix of spikes arranged in rows and columns. 
   
   
       11 . The article according to  claim 1 , wherein said protrusions comprise parallel bars held and connected by cross-bars at ends thereof. 
   
   
       12 . An article for use with a food plate, comprising:
 parallel bars held and connected by cross-bars at ends thereof, wherein a spacing between adjacent parallel bars equals a distance between tines of a fork, said parallel bars and said cross-bars being made of a material suitable for serving food thereon.