Tableware
Tableware is the
dishes or
dishware used for setting a table, serving food and for dining. Tableware can be meant to include cutlery and glassware. The nature, variety, and number of objects varies from culture to culture, religions, and cuisines. In the United States, tableware is most commonly referred to as dinnerware. Dinnerware can be meant to include glassware, however not flatware. In Britain, the term
crockery is sometimes used for ceramic dishes. In the USA, ceramic dinnerware can be referred to as
china. Sets of dishes are often referred to as a table service or service set. Table settings or place settings are the dishes, flatware, and glassware used by an individual for formal and informal dining. In Ireland such items are normally referred to as
delph, with the term
china often used for a higher cost product, such as the porcelain ware produced by Belleek Pottery. The word
delph being an English language phonetic spelling of the word
delft, named after the town from which so much delftware came from. In the United Kingdom, silver service or butler service are names of methods for serving a meal.