- published: 11 Apr 2013
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Tableware is the dishes or dishware (ceramic), dinnerware (ceramics and other materials) used for setting a table, serving food, and for dining. Tableware can be meant to include cutlery and glassware. The nature, variety, and number of objects varies from culture to culture, religions, and cuisines.
In the United States, tableware is most commonly referred to as dinnerware. Dinnerware can be meant to include glassware, however not flatware. In Britain, the term crockery is sometimes used for ceramic dishes. In the USA, ceramic dinnerware, whether made of porcelain or earthenware. Sets of dishes are often referred to as a table service or service set. Table settings or place settings are the dishes, flatware (cutlery), and glassware used by an individual for formal and informal dining. In the United Kingdom, silver service or butler service are names of methods for serving a meal.
The first known use of the term tableware was in 1766, dinnerware in 1895, and dishware in 1946.
In 1880, Victorianism had established itself in the United States, with middle class Americans enjoying the materialism and consumption of goods to express their identities. The dining room or dining parlor, which had been in upper class houses since the colonial period of American history, became more common in middle-class homes. Dining became a social event with various food dishes being served with various manufactured tableware shapes. "The tools used for social dining changed dramatically over time, reflecting both changes in social life and the development of a tableware "fashion system." The manufacturers and marketers of china and glass wanted to sell more goods, the authors and publishers of books on entertaining sought to sell more copies; and the editors of tastemaking magazines pursued greater circulation and advertising revenues. They made table setting a distinctive fashion system of its own."