François Boullier of France and Isaac Hunt of England both took credit for inventing the cheese grater in the 1540s. Boullier originally aimed to use up an overabundance of cheese in Paris. A fad of avoiding meat led French farmers to convert their herds to dairy-producing cows, which led to more milk and even too much milk, which led to a market flooded with cheese. Boullier made his first cheese grater out of pewter to grate hard, sometimes dried out cheeses, which turned them into a sort of condiment.
In England, Isaac Hunt wanted to stretch cheese, so he grated and melted it for Welsh rarebit, allowing more even distribution of the cheese.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Philadelphia cheese monger and entrepreneur Jeffrey Taylor wanted to stretch cheese for tight budgets and to bulk up cheese features (and even vegetables) to make them look like more food during difficult economic times. Taylor read about Boullier’s invention and made his own by sharpening the holes of a metal shower drain.
For the last century many companies have tried to improve the cheese grater and invent a new “latest” one that we all must have. Cheese graters are made of all sorts of materials including bamboo, wood, and various metals and some are decorated with clowns’ heads, some are shaped like plastic frogs, while others are called “knuckle protectors,” for good reason.