"For most of the world's cuisine, the bowl is the main vessel for eating," explains Matthew Weingarten. "It conjures a way of eating that, for me is more about something of comfort and sustenance.” That sentiment probably rings true for many modern diners, with our casual meals and global focus on flavors and dining styles.

But it’s a relatively new way of looking at food.

In the past, plates dominated the dinner table: one for bread, one for salad, and one for the main course and another for dessert. The use of many dishes and bowls - along with more specific items such as fish knives and asparagus dishes - reflects the traditional interest in keeping food seperated.

The concept of a bowl meal was very unfamiliar for most of the 20th century. Diners spent a lot of time and effort to differentiate themselves from this way of eating... They had a lot of courses, a lot of cutlery or tableware devoted to specific foods or food groups. This type of intense separation of meal components was probably perceived to be a sort of refinement, education, and status. But in the real sense, we all know that separation is a bit disgusting.

Part of the bowl’s appeal is that you can eat almost anything from it.

Pasta, dumplings, soups of all kinds are necessarily eaten from a bowl. Still, another whole category of food bowl has become prominent in the past decade or so - dishes that can be enjoyed on a plate, but seem less coherent served on one.

The tableware we use affects the way we taste and experience the food we eat.

When we sit down to a meal, our minds form a core set of expectations about how they taste and how satisfying they are.

Our brains try to predict the flavor of food. The bowl we pick up and touch is likely to set expectations for a hearty and delicious meal. Its weight in your hands will likely make your mind think that food is more critical and has more nutrition than the same food that passively sits on a plate.

There is a connection with eating food from a bowl that cannot be experienced when using a plate. With plates, you are thinking about the kind of shape of the plate, the cutting with the fork, and the knife, and everything is just like a routine. But you can pick up a bowl, bring it closer to yourself, enjoy it, and immerse yourself in what is in front of you.

They not only feel comfortable in hand, the bowls are also beautiful.

Eating from a bowl may make the world feel friendlier.

If you hold the bowl, you feel warm. Recent research proves that if you feel something warm in your hand, the world is more likely to look like a better place.

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