The History of American Dinnerware

It happened, I’m getting old.

I was putting the Thanksgiving dishes into the dishwasher when a plate slipped from my hand and landed edgewise on the top of my foot. It was some of the most intense pain I’ve felt in a while and I did what everyone does when something bad happens to you, I immediately informed social media.

Bluesky is so wonderful and everyone laughed along with my self-deprecating post, even adding some of their own mishaps when doing otherwise normal daily tasks. It made me feel a lot better about the soda can I had against my foot and the throbbing of course.

Then I made this post which was meant to be a joke:

But it got me thinking: what is the story of dinnerware in America? It of course didn’t start with the Pilgrims or even European culture. Plates, bowls, cups, jugs, spoons, knives, and every other manner of dish and utensil were in use here long before colonization began.

The bowl is likely one of the fish “dishes” that were in regular use. Men in Mesoamerica would carve them from burls like this snow-covered one:

They were also used as pestles with large stone mortars for grinding down nuts and acorns into flours.

Tortillas were employed as utensil and food, used to scoop ceramic bowls clean, and then could be eaten as part of the meal. Spanish explorers reported instances of the Motecuhzoma drinking from golden cups, though it’s anecdotal. It does indicate the use of dishes being used.

Cacao was prepared by using two pitchers and using tall pours to process it:

Here is an example of a cup in use by the Maya:

In North America, woven baskets in use by the Navajo (Diné) were lined with pitch creating a waterproof seal. Stones were then heated up and placed inside to boil water.

Spoons and cups made from buffalo horns and mountain sheep horns were then intricately detailed and made beautiful. The horns would be split, steamed so they could be shaped easier, and then carved into the final piece:

These examples are from Kevin Pourier’s website where you can also get a far deeper picture of native dinnerware.

It’s very likely that when the Pilgrims were starving and the natives gracefully fed them, leading to the Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate today, it’s likely the majority of dinnerware being used was native dinnerware.

Ancient Egyptians used a variety of materials and implements as cutlery, including this one from the 6th-Century BC. It’s made from carob wood and would be used for applying eyeliner by the wealthy:

Pharaohs would use spoons made from silver and gold that had all manner of flourishes and engravings.

This 6th-century BC cup was used in ancient Greek. Great vats of wine mixed with water called kraters stood in the middle of gatherings and these shallow cups called kylixes would be used to scoop it out and drink. When tipped upwards, the drinker would look for a moment as if they were wearing a mask:

One thing that eluded these ancients, and Europe at large, was the ability to create pure white pottery they imported from China. That finally changed in 1708 when Johann Friedrich Böttger and Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus created European hard-paste porcelain for the first time.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Americans were likely eating from stoneware which had been used across Europe since the Middle Ages after first being invented in China during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC). It was relatively cheap and easy to produce and therefore widely available. All you needed were crushed rocks, clay, and a really hot fire. Food storage, jugs for holding or storing liquids, and even chamber pots were all made from stoneware. It was also more durable than porcelain and could be heated to higher temperatures than wood.

Dinnerware from Europe was thought to be better made than what was available domestically before the 20th century:

Nowadays, you can get dinnerware practically anywhere. Like the one I bought at Target two years ago that, last night, I dropped on my damn foot.