We’ve been sorting, counting, and photographing napkins this week and though we have made progress, we still have more to do. In the meantime, we did a little research about this seemingly ordinary household staple, but like everything, the napkin story is very interesting.

~ Here are 6 things we thought you’d like to know about napkins! ~

1 – The first “napkin” was not made of cloth but were nuggets of bread. The ancient Greeks used soft bread inside the crust to clean their fingers during a meal.

2 – Cloth napkins date back to the 14th century while paper tea napkins were invented by the Chinese in the 2nd century BC.

3 –  Scott Paper was the first US company to sell paper napkins and, although they were produced in the 1930s, they didn’t become popular until the 1950s.

4 – Napkins come in different sizes, colors, patterns, and styles. The rule of thumb as far as the size of the napkin is this –  the more food being served, the larger the napkin.

5 – Yes, napkin etiquette does exist.  If you have good napkin manners you know when to pick up your napkin, how to place it in your nap, and where to put it when you’re finished the meal. You also know what not to do with a napkin.

6 – According to some sources, the expression “to make ends meet” is a reference to the use of a napkin. The origin of this phrase actually has many theories but this is our favorite. In the French court of 1729 men wore shirts that had stiff, ruffled collars. As the story goes, to protect their clothing, napkins were tucked in the neckline and around the neck so as “to make ends meet.”

There’s so much more to share but we’ve got to get back to our napkin task.
Have a nice week!

Sources:
Napkin Folding Guide
Clise Etiquette
Wikipedia – Napkin
Food Reference

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