So, I'm in Target the other day at lunch...was roaming about in the kitchen/housewares section killing some time. I saw a woman pick up one of these cheese graters and the little girl riding in her basket looked at it, curiously, and asked what it was...
 |
| Ye Olde Cheese Grater |
The woman said that "in the olden days it was how people had to make grated cheese". The little girl scrunched up her face and went back to the distraction of her Mother's smart phone.
THE OLDEN DAYS?
Seriously?
Have we changed that much as a society and prepackaged shredded cheese has become so ubiquitous that the next generation will not know how to take a block of cheese and shred it by hand? I'm not yet 50 but one of my fun memories is actually begging to be the one to shred the cheese for some dinner casserole my Mom or Grandma was making. I loved watching that solid block turn into fluffy mounds of cheese heaven. I enjoyed shredding it and not pulling it up until it was overfull (or Mom said 'OK, that's enough') and then watching all the cheese fall onto the plate. It always seemed like way more than was possible.
We have two of these "olden days" graters, one in town and one at the farm. Isn't it the ultimate in non-electric utilitarianism? What's next, knives are from the days of yore? Ancient antiquity manual can opener?
What about you...anything you use that someone else might say is from the olden days?
What about you...anything you use that someone else might say is from the olden days?
i use a box grater almost every day! i use lots of stuff from 'the olden days'!
ReplyDeleteHow is it from 'the olden days' if they still sell them? We switched to grating our own cheese when we were trying a nightshade free diet, which includes potatoes, and found our favorite brand of shredded cheese is coated in potato flour. We still use it since I found out we eat much less cheese when we have to grate our own instead of just grabbing a handful from the bag. This overheard conversation cracks me up!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I'm FROM the 'olden days' so I still do things, ahem, the old way.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I JUST USED MINE LAST NIGHT!!!! I guess I'm stuck in the olden days... and though we
ReplyDeletedo buy some prepackaged cheese... I like to grate mine, too! It just seems so much fresher that way!
I use my 'olden days' grater every day.
ReplyDelete1st Man,
ReplyDeleteI love my old cheese grater.....and use it all the time.
I use a hand held old fashioned crank mixer and when I do I get these strange looks from my adult children.
We use our grater daily as well. I can't stand the pre-shredded stuff. How old is it & what is it coated with?
ReplyDeleteI have never bought pre shredded cheese. Use my old grater almost every day and just mentioned to my DH that we should get a new one as our was getting a little dull after 25 years. It is a must for grating potatoes for potato pancakes.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, thanks for helping us feel *olden* :P Secondly, I still file actual paper in actual file boxes... surely that is on it's way to being old school too.
ReplyDeleteI use my grandmother's tea ball for loose tea. The cheese grater is in the utensil holder. I love my nut grinder too!
ReplyDeleteI love my ‘golden oldies’! I have a kitchen full of them. My old green-glass juicer is a favorite.
ReplyDeleteAnd just think - our houses will be the ones all the neighbors come to after the next storm to borrow our ‘old-fashioned’ manual can opener!!
I've never liked the box grater, so I have a flat grater. The pregrated cheeses taste too plasticy for me.
ReplyDeleteHow old was the lady? What a strange comment to make! My 11 year old son found our ironing board hiding behind our fridge a while back and was fascinated by it. When explaining what it was he asked "What's an iron?" We are on stand alone solar and it seemed the perfect excuse to ditch the iron. I hate ironing and am hopeless at it. I have a theory that if the wrinkles in clothing don't drop out while the item is being worn then it doesn't belong in my wardrobe. By the by, I have a neighbour who uses a large cheese grater to display her earrings.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if she would have even known herself what a sifter is - something I use every week. And my taste buds are very loyal to Tillamook cheese, and we buy it in the block about every week and a half. I also use an actual Dutch oven for roasts, biscuits, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm a couple years short of thirty, but my parents have me more than beat. They're well stocked with hand cranked grain mills (I've been meaning to get one for years...or just "borrow" one of theirs) egg beaters, and the like. They could give many well-stocked preppers a run for their money.
My gas stove is from the 40's. It still works, though we went through an "adjustment" phase where I learned not to curse that it didn't preheat in 5 minutes and one burner is either "incinerate" or "sorta warm" with nothing in between. Still it's beautiful and it just suits a 100 plus year old house.
ReplyDeleteEegads!
ReplyDeleteI seriously fear for the next generation. .
ReplyDeleteYou know at Silver Dollar City, an amusement park in the Midwest displays of things like weaving and spinning, blacksmithing, etc are shown. Maybe someday, and apparently sooner than we might have imagined there will be demos of cheese grating, opening cans with a manual opener, grinding meat with a hand Turner grinder, etc. In short things we do every day but are exotic to others.
ReplyDeleteFirst: I read just yesterday that packaged grated cheese has wood in it to keep it from clumping....probably what the potato flour is for, too.
ReplyDeleteLast: I have loads of "vintage" (my preferred term) kitchen stuff that I use...O'Keefe & Merritt stove (40s), flour sifters, potato mashers, hand crank egg beater, hand crank can opener. Though I will admit to using my electric hand mixer when I make mashed 'taters.
cheers,
Ann
Hi, I'm from France. Our approach is different from the american one: We don't have a lot of electrical appliances. We are not large consumers. And, you know French people and the French cuisine ? Recipes are better if it's handmade (shredding the cheese for example...).
ReplyDeleteI love your blog, because we did the same approach than you and the same steps. Today, we own an old barn in France, bought one month ago, and fields and woods and a spring. I am glad to see that our ideas are shared all over the word. So I think it is not a fad, it's a movement .Good luck. Friendly.
The iron. Definitely a domestic tool of the olden days (I still use mine).
ReplyDelete