The Cheese Grater

The invention of the cheese grater is generally attributed to François Boullier, a Paisian eccentric in the 1540’s. The first grater was made out of pewter and is currently display at the Muséum du Havre (in Le Havre, France) . The grater was invented as a result of the cheese surplus in the first half of the 16th century. The surplus is recorded in detail in Jaques Debonier's Encyclopedic History of Cheese (1854). According to Debonier, the surplus is attributed to post-enlightenment thought, wherein consumption of meat was discouraged. Farmers, due to the drop in meat demand, converted much of their operation to dairy, which accounted for the literal explosion of cheese varieties in the 16th century. However, the market quickly became saturated with cheese and it began sit in great quantities in storage. Some of the newly discovered cheese varieties hardened over time.

Boullier developed the grater, which he used to convert the hard cheese into a marketable table condiment, which quickly became popular. The grater saw a surge of popularity among Bourgeois Parisians in the 1540s and early 1550s. In 1555, however, a drought stuck continental Europe, and it quickly diminished dairy stocks. As soon as it began, the cheese surplus ended. With the rise in price of cheese, it was soon considered a luxury good and the grater only remained in use with the elite. By the 1580’s, the grater and grated cheese had all but disappeared from French culture and cuisine.

Jeffery Taylor, a great entrepreneurial spirit, reintroduced the grater in the 1920’s in Philadelphia. The proprietor of a cheese shop, he had read about the grater in Debonier's opus and was inspired to recreate it as he had also experienced surpluses of hard cheeses. He fashioned his prototype out of a metal shower drain, after filing the holes so sharpen them. It quickly became a local success and he began fashioning and selling them in his shop. Taylor's take on the grater didn't see widespread popularity until the Great Depression when Taylor pitched the grater as an implement that that increased the volume of cheese. The grater made portions of cheese look larger, which pleased housewives who could seemingly supply more with less. Taylor began marketing and selling the tool as the "greater". Since then, is has been a staple in American culinary culture.