Cutlery Cutlery Cutlery includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffield in England has been famous for the production of cutlery since the 17th century and a train – the "Master Cutler" – running from Sheffield to London was named after the industry. Cutlery is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where "cutlery" usually means knives and related cutting instruments. Although the term "silverware" is used irrespective of the material composition of the utensils,
Cutlery foods and the cutlery metal can lead to unpleasant tastes. Gold is even less reactive than silver, but the use of gold cutlery was confined to the exceptionally wealthy, such as monarchs. Even comparatively modest households might have one or two items of silver, often silver spoons. Wealthy individuals would own large sets containing a range of specialised dining implements, such as the comprehensive set in sterling silver made for the French aristocrat Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier (known as the Marquis de Lafayette) by the Towle Manufacturing Company. It contained, among many other items, a gravy ladle,