Editing Tableware (section)

{{Short description|Items used for setting a table and serving food}}
{{Redirect|Crockery|the township|Crockery Township, Michigan}}
{{Redirect|Dinner service|the meal|Dinner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
[[File:Dining table laid at Chatsworth House.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Formal dining table laid for a large private dinner party at [[Chatsworth House]]]]
[[Image:Warsaw Royal Castle GM (21).JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|Table laid for six at the [[Royal Castle, Warsaw]], (18th–19th century fashion)]]

'''Tableware''' items are the dishware and utensils used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. The term includes [[cutlery]], [[List of glassware|glassware]], serving dishes, serving utensils, and other items used for practical as well as decorative purposes.<ref name=Bloomfield>{{cite book|last1=Bloomfield|first1=Linda|title=Contemporary tableware|date=2013|publisher=A. & C. Black|location=London|isbn=9781408153956}}</ref><ref name="venable">{{cite book |last=Venable |first=Charles L. |url=https://archive.org/details/chinaglassinamer0000unse |title=China and Glass in America, 1880-1980: From Table Top to TV Tray |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |year=2000 |isbn=0-8109-6692-1 |location=New York |display-authors=etal |url-access=registration}}</ref> The quality, nature, variety and number of objects varies according to culture, religion, number of diners, [[cuisine]] and occasion. For example, Middle Eastern, Indian or Polynesian food culture and cuisine sometimes limits tableware to serving dishes, using bread or leaves as individual plates, and not infrequently without use of cutlery. Special occasions are usually reflected in higher quality tableware.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/tableware|title=Tableware |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica }}</ref>
 	
Cutlery is more usually known as ''silverware'' or ''flatware'' in the United States, where ''cutlery'' usually means knives and related cutting instruments; elsewhere cutlery includes all the [[forks]], [[spoon]]s and other silverware items.  Outside the US, ''flatware'' is a term for "open-shaped" dishware items such as [[Plate (dishware)|plates]], dishes and [[bowl]]s (as opposed to "closed" shapes like jugs and vases).  ''Dinnerware'' is another term used to refer to tableware, and ''crockery'' refers to ceramic tableware, today often [[porcelain]] or [[bone china]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hughes, G. Bernard (George Bernard)|title=English porcelain and bone china|last2=Hughes, Therle|date=1955|publisher=Lutterworth Press|isbn=0-7188-1392-8|location=London|oclc=220307242}}</ref> Sets of dishes are referred to as a ''table service'', ''dinner service'' or ''service set''. [[Table setting]]s or place settings are the dishes, cutlery and glassware used for formal and informal dining. In Ireland, tableware is often referred to as ''delph'', the word being an English language [[Phonetics|phonetic]] spelling of the word ''[[Delft]]'', the town from which so much [[delftware]] came. [[Silver service]] or butler service are methods for a butler or waiter to serve a meal.

''Setting the table'' refers to arranging the tableware, including individual place settings for each diner at the table as well as decorating the table itself in a manner suitable for the occasion. Tableware and table decoration are typically more elaborate for special occasions. Unusual dining locations demand tableware be adapted.