A Luxury

Due to a massive drought in the late 16th century, the cost of cheese rose so high that it was considered a luxury and only the wealthy could really afford it.

A business man by the name of Jeffrey Taylor reintroduced the cheese grater in Philadelphia in the 20s. As he owner of a cheese store he decided to sell hard cheeses, which made him revisit the idea of a cheese grater. By using different materials and sharpening the holes, the cheese grater became extremely popular once more, selling "like hotcakes"

      The Invention

 

The first cheese grater was invented way back in the 1540s, by a man named François Boullier. It was invented so that hard cheese could still be used properly. The grater that he used and made is made of pewter, which is a soft metal. It is now sat in Museum du Havre in France.

 

The threat of disease in meat made this invention extremely popular with farmers as they turned their focus to dairy products; because of this, there was A LOT of cheese in France, and a large amount went hard over time, thus popularising the cheese grater.