Did you know there was a celery craze?

It may seem like an ordinary vegetable today, but in the 1800s celery was one of the most fashionable foods you could serve.

After improved cultivation methods produced the crisp, pale stalks we recognize today, celery emerged as a status symbol in Britain and the United States during the 1830s and 1840s. Because it was difficult and expensive to grow and ship, displaying fresh celery on the dinner table became a sign of refinement, prosperity, and fashionable taste.

Victorians even created a specialized piece of tableware just for celery. Tall glass celery vases, filled with a little cold water, kept the stalks fresh while displaying their leafy tops like a bouquet of flowers. In an era of elaborate dining etiquette, many foods had their own serving pieces, but few as elegant or instantly recognizable as the celery vase.

The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company embraced the new fashion. Starting as early as the 1830s, the company produced celery vases in a variety of patterns, combining practicality with the craftsmanship for which Sandwich glass became famous.

The celery craze reached its peak between about 1850 and 1880, when formal Victorian dining was at its most elaborate. By then, elegant celery vases had become a standard feature on fashionable American tables. As celery became easier to grow and more affordable in the late 19th century, however, the fashion gradually faded and the tall celery vase disappeared from most dining rooms.

Today, these vessels remain a reminder that changing tastes—even for something as simple as a vegetable—can inspire entirely new forms of art and design.

The next time you visit the Sandwich Glass Museum, stop by the Hannah Rebecca Burgess dining room to see one of our Boston & Sandwich celery vases displayed just as it would have appeared on a Victorian table—filled with celery and ready to impress dinner guests.