“Hotels and restaurants rely on simple round white plates, “hotel china.” ‘Round and white has been the industry standard for a number of reasons,’ Julie Gustafson wrote in the online magazine Hotel & Motel. ‘White goes with everything, so there’s no need to change dinnerware with the change of carpet and curtains. And chefs love a plain white background to set off their food.’ . . .

Plain white hotel china has also entered the home. . . . It is dishwasher safe, inexpensive, and unobtrusive.”

—Suzanne Stauback, from Clay: The History and Evolution of Humankind’s Relationship with Earth’s Most Primal Element, 2005.