We believe it represents an "Italian" man grating cheese on the streetcorner, as they used to do in New York City at the turn of the century. "Cuppa cheese-a for a nickel-a!" This ceramic dispenser was orginally sold as part of a set... it seems to have been separated from its companion olive-oil dispenser (which would have been shaped like a little fez-wearing monkey).

This item so deeply offended the Italian members of our staff that they could barely be bothered to spit in its general direction as they ran home to catch "The Sopranos" on HBO.

The Leaning Tower of Cheese-A
You can't swing a Pet Rock without hitting a ceramic cheese dispenser here at the Tchotchke Peepshow this month (and believe us, Mr. Pidgeotto has tried)! This fabulous bit of white pottery was brought in by Albert Kaminski of Yerba Buena, California. He claims to have found this in the back of a bus, and we didn't question him further (frankly, he frightened us).

Nevertheless, as you can see -- not only does this piece look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it's also a grated cheese dispenser!
It works on so many levels.