A cooking utensil is a tool used in the kitchen for the purpose of cooking. It is usually made out of materials that do not easily melt.http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cooking+utensil Cooking utensils can be used for a number of tasks including crushing garlic, chopping vegetables, beating a cake batter and stirring a pot over the stove.http://www.cookingutensils.net/ Many utensils have just one purpose while others can be used for a more then one use. Cooking utensils can be made out of a number of different materials such as nylon, bamboo, wood, stainless steel and plastic.

A knife was one of the first cooking utensils used. Knives would have been used to scrape tissue from hides, and chop and cut foods.http://www.knives.com/coretool.html

Basic Renaissance kitchens were known to have, in addition to kettles and iron spits, spoons, knives and sometimes a plunger churn. A plunger churn was a tool that was used for turning cream into butter. Kitchens in wealthier families would often have knives, mortar and pestle, strainers, sieve, colanders and more.http://www.katjaorlova.com/MedievalKitchenEquipment.htm

Native Americans used stones for grinding, nut cracking, pounding and powdering of dried meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, seeds and roots. Flint knives were made and prized for their sharpness. Other cooking utensils were made from animal bone, horn, wood and gourds.http://www.journalofantiques.com/Aug02/hearthaug02.htm