A celery vase is type of glass

tableware Tableware is any dish or dishware used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. It includes cutlery, List of glassware, glassware, serving dishes, and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variet ...

. Developed during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, celery vases displayed

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, lea ...

as centerpieces during meals. Celery was introduced to England from the

Mediterranean region In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...

in the early 19th century. Farmers began cultivating celery in

eastern England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...

. It was hard to grow, making it a luxury food item. As a result, upper and middle class Victorian households would display their raw celery in special vases. The vases were available in ceramic and silver, however, glass was preferred so the celery could be seen in the vase by diners. They were often displayed as dining table centerpieces, either as a stand alone display or to complement a celery dish or dip. Celery vases were advertised in the United States as early as 1801 and continued to be promoted by retailers, women's journalism, and etiquette manuals. The latter promoted celery to be displayed in the vases and consumed during the salad course. The vases were common wedding gifts and often were engraved with the newlyweds names on the bottom. The vases began to decline in popularity by 1900. Eventually, the mass production of celery vases and the increasingly easier process of growing celery caused a decline in the vases' popularity. A 1916 cookbook featured a "Celery in Glass" recipe. The

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

has a collection of celery vases.

References

External links

{{commons cat
"Bring Back the Celery Vase"
- ''

Eater Eater may refer to: * Eater (band), an English punk rock group * "Eater" (''Fear Itself''), a 2008 episode of the NBC television horror anthology ''Fear Itself'' * ''Eater'' (novel), a 2000 science fiction novel by Gregory Benford * ''Eater'' (w ...

'' Serving vessels Victorian cuisine Celery Vases