Box grater with a vegetable slicing surface (top) and grating surface (front) displayed
Agrater, also referred to as ashredder, is akitchen utensil used to grate or shred foods into fine pieces. They come in several shapes and sizes, with box graters being the most common.[1] Other styles include paddles, microplane/rasp graters, and rotary drum graters.[1][2]
Graters produce shreds that are thinner at the ends than the middle.[citation needed] This allows the grated material to melt or cook in a different manner than the shreds of mostly uniform thickness produced by the grating blade of afood processor. Hand-grated potatoes, for example, melt together more easily in a potato pancake than food-processed potato shreds.[citation needed]
InJamaica andBelize, coconut graters are used as a traditional musical instrument[5] (along with drums, fife, and other instruments) in the performance ofkumina,jonkanoo,brukdown, and sometimesmento.
The first attested graters were made out of bronze, and also silver alloys, in the early first millennium BCE, examples of which were uncovered from burial sites in Greece and Etruscan Italy.[6][7] In line withHomer'sIliad, these were sometimes used to grate goat's cheese in the making of a type ofKykeon, afast-breaking drink.[7]
Early forms of a "modern" grater (by M. Agrappi and B. Scappi)
The origin of our modern graters is disputed. One of the earliest known depictions of a grater that resembles contemporary designs appeared in theBartolomeo Scappi work,Opera dell'arte del cucinare, illustrated by Milano Agrappi, published in Venice in 1570.[8][9][10] However, most attribute the first "modern" cheese grater to François Boullier in 1540s France.[11] Hispewter design was intended to convert hard cheeses into something more edible.[12][13]
Kevin Eastman, co-creator of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, got the idea for theShredder's armor from large cheese graters which he envisioned on a villainous characters' arms to be used as weapons. Originally called "Grate Man", the Shredder is known as the primary antagonist in the TMNT franchise.[14]
Wisconsin sports fans are often calledcheeseheads, and some wear cheese hats. In 2013, sports fans of Chicago and Minnesota replied to their rivals by wearing cheese graters.[15]
^Rosenstock, Eva; Ebert, Julia; Scheibner, Alisa (2021-10-01). "Cultured Milk".Current Anthropology.62 (S24). University of Chicago Press:S256 –S275.doi:10.1086/714961.ISSN0011-3204.S2CID239683334.
^abRidgway, David (1997). "Nestor's Cup and the Etruscans".Oxford Journal of Archaeology.16 (3). Wiley (published 2002):325–344.doi:10.1111/1468-0092.00044.ISSN0262-5253.
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