Kitchen grater

A kitchen grater reduces food to smaller pieces as it is rubbed across a cutting, perforated surface. Vegetables and cheese are common uses. Unlike a sieve, its openings participate in cutting rather than simply allowing liquid or small particles to pass through.

Yrjar Heimbygdslag documents graters from farms in Ørland, Norway. YHL12278 from Vik is described as cylindrical and concave, with three grades of coarseness. Science Museum Group holds a cylindrical Tala grater with four grating surfaces, marked “TALA/Made in England” and catalogued to the period 1924 to 1955.

Record the shape, perforations, handle and any maker information separately. An unmarked grater cannot be attributed to Tala merely because its outline is similar. A donation date in a museum catalogue is not necessarily a production date.

Sources: Yrjar Heimbygdslag: rivjern og rasper; Science Museum Group: Tala food grater.