History of wooden salad bowls

Answer 1

The use of wood to make bowls predates writing. Wood is attractive, and it can be finished in a variety of ways. It's quite easy to work, and it is far from expensive. Wooden bowls have been found in early graves. The use of wood for serving salad is a natural extension of their prolonged use by man in general, particularly with regard to food preparation. In this light, there isn't any formal "history" of the use of wood for a salad bowl. As the bowls look good, are easy to make, don't cost an arm and a leg, and can be easily cleaned and stored in the contemporary home, it may be that designers and manufacturers started making more of them and "pushing" them on the public over the last half century. But wooden bowls can be purchased on eBay that date back well over a century. The history of the wooden salad bowl is probably indistinguishable from the (broader) history of the wooden bowl, save for the last 40 to 60 years. The Japanese exported a lot of wooden products to the U.S. during that Asian nation's recovery following World War II. This may have led the "revolution" to "bring wood back" into more general use in the kitchen.