My very first butterdish fresh out of production. Not even oiled yet!
10 years ago, I found myself in the company of some really beautiful wood.
I could not help myself, and I collected a few cut-offs of cherry, maple, birch and walnut.
It is from these first pieces of wood that this wooden butter dish was born.
Why make a butter dish?
At that time, I had a plastic Tupperware butterdish at home. It was practical but the plastique was not inspiring to me.
I believe that the wood itself connected with my creativity and gave me an answer to a question I did not know I had: “How can I make a butterdish which inspires me?“. Somehow, I visualized these pieces of wood transforming into a butterdish. I think that I also sensed that wood and butter were strongly acquainted from times immemorial as you will see.
Over the last few years, a number of butterdish-conversations with people around me have made me conscious of the importance of butter in many family or ethnic cultures, throughout history, and various parts of the world. My own butter experience and how my family related to it was so different from the many I talked to.
Research tools
This blog is the result of these conversations and of the subsequent research I undertook, becoming increasingly curious and pulled into the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the history of butter.
I would like to point out that one of my most reliable source of information, is Wikipedia. It is always my first ‘go-to’ and ‘cross-check’ source of reliable information and I support them on a regular basis for that reason. I encourage you to please do the same: donate.wikimedia.org
Through all the research that I have done, I discovered a lot of cultural, historical and geographical facts that I found fascinating, many time surprising and very often really hilarious
Let’s jump over the continents and centuries
I quickly realized that there is not always a clear continuum in the history of butter. It appears here and there in history, fades away sometimes for centuries and somehow reappears as an important economic and cultural factor in a region, country or continent.
In view of this, I gave myself the freedom to jump from one geographical region or one time period to another in order to keep this account entertaining.
I welcome you to come along with me on a journey dedicated to exploring that ‘creamy spread’ we know as butter, as well as some of the implements used to make butter and the various containers that have been used to store it.
Stay tuned and enjoy the adventure!
