Makers are at the heart of the Food52 Shop, and we love to share their stories—so we partnered with our friends at Pure Leaf Tea House Collection to feature a few in their Traveling Tea House.
Here's the problem with tupperware: It's easily lost. One minute you have a matching lid, the next you're perplexed as to where the container's top disappeared to. Did it vanish into thin air? Most likely not (although that would be something). Did it get lost in the vortex that is the pantry? That's more probable.
Sarah Kersten understands this. Her Ceramic Nesting Bowls come complete with their own top, so you can keep food warm on the table or store them in the fridge. "Personally, I’m unable to keep track of my portable storage wares; they inevitably get left at work or at a friends house, or the lids disappears," Kersten says. "I love to cook, and I was looking for a way to escape plastic and to consistently have appropriate containers in my kitchen."
While naysayers may think a stoneware lidded bowl isn't practical—something along the lines of, "Wait, is this just expensive, breakable tupperware?"—we say no. Here are 8 reasons why we love Sarah's nesting bowls.
1.) All of Kersten's bowls are handmade from clay in her studio in Berkley, California. Going off that, as Kersten says, they're "made in the USA by a craftsperson who really cares."
2.) Because they stack, they take up less room and fit neatly in the refrigerator. And no transferring to another better-looking bowl—you can bring these pretties right to the table, revealing the equally beautiful grain salad we know you have in there.
3.) The top doubles as a trivet, and while the bowl itself isn't oven-safe, it'll sit pretty on the lid, keeping whatever you serve inside it warm and not directly sitting on the table.
4.) Kersten worked for 2 years developing a ceramic bowl with a flat lid. And they aren't based on popular design, meaning they're original work.
5.) The pottery is thicker and fired at a high temperature, making them durable as all get out (meaning, they won't mind getting knocked around a little bit in your cabinets or as you use them over and over again).
6.) Because of this, they have excellent heat retention. Like a mug, the bowls keep warm food warm and cold food cold, more so than glass serve-ware.
7.) "I’m working on the not-so-top-secret project of turning some of the bowls and plates I’ve been hand throwing for restaurants into pieces that we are making using molds, so that they’ll be regularly and consistently available to everyone," Kersten says. They'll be available later this year (check her Instagram or subscribe to her newsletter for updates).
8.) You won't accidentally leave the lid behind at work or bury it in some mismatched tupperware drawer, and not only because they're gorgeous.
Find Sarah's work in our Shop, and at the Pure Leaf Tea House Collection Traveling Tea House at San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza on June 23rd.
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