A grater is the kitchen tool with a surface of sharp holes used to shred cheese. When food is rubbed across those holes, the raised cutting edges slice away small pieces. Different hole sizes produce fine, medium, or coarse shreds, making one tool useful for everything from Parmesan to cheddar.
The familiar box grater usually has several sides, each with a different cutting surface. A fine side can grate hard cheese or spices, while a coarse side creates larger strands for toppings and sauces. Microplane-style graters are especially useful for citrus zest, garlic, ginger, and very fine cheese.
Graters are not limited to cheese. Cooks use them for vegetables, potatoes, nutmeg, chocolate, and coconut. The thin pieces created by hand-grating can melt or cook differently from uniform shreds produced by a food processor.
The tool has a long history. Ancient bronze and silver-alloy graters have been found in Greece and Etruscan Italy, and early modern depictions appeared in sixteenth-century European cookery. A mandoline slices, a peeler removes strips of skin, and a zester is a specialized tool for citrus peel—though some graters include a zesting surface.