In the high tech, fast paced society that we live in, it’s easy to take some things for granted. Case in point: the wood cutting board on which you’ll probably be preparing the evening’s dinner. Have you ever taken the time to think about the history of the cutting board?
Where did it come from, and what did ancient civilizations use to cut their meats, fruits and vegetables?
WOOD THROUGHOUT THE AGES
Since the dawn of time, wood has been one of the most available materials used by mankind to build tools and lodgings, so it’s not surprising to know that wood has been used in the preparation of food since the prehistoric ages. Of course, back then, cavemen probably used an unpolished slab of tree trunk to cut their local dinosaur on and they probably didn’t think twice about saving it once the meal was over. Chances are they probably threw it in the fire with the rest of the wood.
MEDIEVAL TIMES – circa 500 -1000 AD
Throughout the centuries, mankind evolved and started creating machines from steam, electricity, and metal. When the circular saw was invented, nicer, cleaner slabs of wood were cut and used as cutting boards. Since soft wood was the most available type of wood at the time, it was the material of choice to be used for cutting boards. Boards were made smaller since the slab of wood could now be cut to any desired size. Since they were made smaller, they were also used to eat off and some people referred to them as *Trenchers.
*Trenchers – A trencher is a type of tableware, commonly used in medieval cuisine. A trencher was originally a flat round of bread used as a plate, upon which the food could be placed to eat. At the end of the meal, the trencher could be eaten with sauce, but could also be given as alms to the poor.
Wood trenchers quickly became the replacements of the eatable dinnerware.
The First Thanksgiving circa 1621
“The First Thanksgiving,” (1915) a painting by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris, depicts the “storybook tale” version
Notice the serving board in the maiden’s hands!
THE INDUSTRIAL AGE
In the industrial age, many industries rapidly developed, and the butchery industry followed this trend as well. Before the invention of the cutting board, butchers used tree rounds to carve their meat on. The rounds were often too soft, and they rapidly became unsanitary. Up until the 1880s, butchers worked on thick rounds of sycamore, which were prone to splitting. In the early 1900s, it was discovered that pieces of hard maple glued together in big blocks provided a stronger, more durable surface that better stood up to meatcutters’ cleavers.
Hard maple wood butcher blocks were the preferred choice of the industry. They were made to be extremely thick and durable, so durable in fact, that a butcher could use the same block for almost his entire career.
CUTTING BOARDS AROUND THE WORLD
As cutting boards became popular, they began to be used more and more in kitchens around North America, the rest of the world crafted such boards from different materials. The East used thick bamboo as their material of choice. Despite its frail appearance, bamboo, is quite strong and made durable cutting boards and butcher blocks. Europeans used maple in the crafting of their cutting boards while Persia used flat pieces of polished wood in their kitchens.
CUTTING BOARDS TODAY
The world today has seen cutting boards that are made from materials like wood, plastic, glass, acrylic and slate as they are available in many shapes and sizes, but they will always serve the same purpose:
To provide a household with a safe, clean surface on which to prepare meals for their friends and family members.
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