B is for Bowl - The Most Versatile Vessel Ever
Bowls can be round. But they can also be square, rectangular, oval, oblong - you get the drift. And, not to put too fine a point on it, they can be used for a lot more than consuming liquids or foods.
Latte bowls for drinking coffee. Small tip bowls on your favourite coffee shop counter. Great big bowls for storing things like DVDs, pens, pencils, notepaper. Bowls to hold ever-multiplying remotes on your coffee table. Prep bowls for food. Condiment bowls for spices and relishes. Frankly, I have a fabric bowl on my desk (made by my talented sister who sews) that is what I call my flotsam and jetsam bowl. In other words, a catch-all for whatever I don't know what to do with!
Punch bowls abound at weddings and other celebrations. Big wooden salad bowls are used to create Caesar salads from scratch tableside in some restaurants.
Bowls can be made of many different types of materials such as ceramic,
porcelain, plastic, wood, stone, glass, metal - just to name what readily comes to mind.
Bowls have been in use for thousands of years
Bowls have been found dating back thousands of years in archeological digs in China, Ancient Greece and some Native American cultures.
In ancient Greece, bowls called phiales included a small dent in the centre of the bowl that enabled the bowl to be more easily held or steadied with a finger. Some sources think these phiales were used for perfume instead of wine or other liquids. Imagine! A perfume bowl.
- So far as we know, the oldest bowl ever found is 18,000 years old.
- Some Chinese pottery bowls have been dated back to the Neolithic period.
**Did you know that a bowl is also a standard unit of measure? One bowl is 3.75 cups or 887.2059 ml.**
The Ardmore Collection
