In Ancient Greek pottery, small bowls, including phiales and pateras, and bowl-shaped cups called kylices were used.
Phiales were used for libations and included a small dent in the center for the bowl to be held with a finger, although one source indicates that these were used to hold perfume rather than wine.
[1] In the 4th millennium BC, evidence exists that the Uruk culture of ancient Mesopotamia mass-produced beveled rim bowls of standardized sizes.
Lakh is a popular boiled porridge made with rolled millet flour pellets (araw/arraw) typically topped at serving with sweetened fermented milk.
In China, it is considered rude and unhygienic for a diner to use his or her own chopsticks to pick up food from communal bowls and plates when such utensils are present.
[4] In some cultures, the communal bowl has a set of social strictures, as evidenced by the Spanish idiom, "¿Cuándo hemos comido en el mismo plato?"