America’s Kitchens (and the women who shaped them)

Back in January, I went to the New Hampshire Historical Society to take in a long-awaited exhibit called America’s Kitchens.

Sponsored by Historic New England, this exhibit covered the entire history of the kitchen in this country, as well as recipes, cooking techniques, and most importantly, the role/s of women in these important chores.  Although fairly small in scale, it featured not only print materials, but some fascinating antiques, a vintage 50s kitchen complete with appliances, and even a few hands-on displays.  As a real foodie, I’d gone into the exhibit thinking this glimpse into the past would be pure entertainment.  But it left me grappling with my own ignorance.  Although I can recollect recounted snippets of my great grandmother’s and my grandmother’s childhood chores, they’re fuzzy at best.  As a modern woman, I have never known the kitchen as anything but fun.  This exhibit reminded me that until very recent times, the kitchen was anything but.

Historically, cooking and kitchen work fell principally if not solely to females, and before the advent of today’s convenience technologies, the preparation, storage and keeping of food, and all associated & very necessary cleaning tasks were nothing short of grueling.  It’s one thing today to make a choice to cook or clean, but back in the day, women (unless they were wealthy) had NO CHOICE.  Sun up to sun down was devoted to maintaining fires, tending to livestock, working fields, preparing food, feeding families, raising children – and by raising I mean everything involved with their upbringing, be it nursing, changing, teaching, playing, and so on.  All day long there was cleaning to be done, not to mention seasonal activities, like canning, pickling, the smoking and salting of meats, butter making, and more.  And let’s not forget other important tasks like the making and mending of clothes, along with their maintenance.  Laundry alone would take hours of backbreaking labor.  The Whirlpool Corporation (well, technically its predecessor) wasn’t even founded until 1911!!

Women Worked (with a capital W) all day, every day, until they finally dropped dead of exhaustion.  Rarely was there expectation of eventual betterment or any other role to fill.

Home life for our predecessors was more than thankless; it was mandatory indentured servitude.  No wonder women were so eager to escape!  The kitchen was and is the heart of the home, but historically it was also a place of undeniable struggle.  Against hunger, against nature, and against gender roles.  While some women embraced their expected place, you can understand why others railed against it.  Choice, my friends, can make even unappealing tasks palatable.  Which brings me to another interesting point raised by the exhibit.  When American housewives had the finance and good fortune to pass their labor onto others, they happily did so, in the form of paid servants and unpaid slaves.  Interesting to note how often these unburdened women were quick to complain about the poor performance of those toiling on their behalf.

Many modern women, such as yours truly, complain about having to do simple household chores.  We gripe about having to push a vacuum across the floor or wipe down counters with magical germ killing cleaners.  We grudgingly toss clothes into big shiny machines which do ALL THE WORK FOR US.  In comparison to what our forebears had to slog through daily, we’re a bunch of pampered pansies.  But even now, some women struggle just as they always have.  They wash clothes by hand in filthy streams, they draw water from wells, carrying it miles back to their homes – often with their children in tow.  Women are still scraping by, cooking meager food, making clothes by hand, even here in America.  Fortunately, most of us reading this have a choice.  Whether you love or hate the kitchen, you’re not bound to it.  In 2010, women have the luxury of opting out of cooking altogether if they so desire, and some do.

I have been thinking about this exhibit a lot lately, not only because I recently finished reading the excellent accompanying book, but because of my own life circumstance.  I am someone who loves the kitchen, but who is forced to cook out of necessity.  When I was diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease and told I’d have to give up salt, I traded freedom for health.  Living in a 250 year old home, and spending hours each day in my modern-yet-historic kitchen

I wonder about the women who used to work in these walls.  I envision them laboring in front of the open hearth, baking bread in the beehive oven, having to constantly maintain the fire.  How exhausting it must all have been.  It makes me further appreciate all of the advantages I do have, circa 2010.  Like my beautiful new appliances!  Which do EVERYTHING FOR ME, including cool, cook and clean..  God bless them.

An ode to my kitchen.

When we began looking for a new house, we saw many kitchens.  Some were so-so, some were downright beautiful.  But none of them spoke to me.  Except to say HANDS OFF! the way a lady might slap a frisky man.  I was looking for a plow horse, but all I found were prima donnas.  Until SHE walked in.

my kitchen

My kitchen is not showy.  Like the rest of this house, it is old.  It is not cherry & granite, stainless steel, status and POWER.  It is simple.  It is trying in some ways, like an elderly relative who needs help finding their glasses.  You wonder WHY DON’T YOU JUST PUT THEM ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND? But you search for an hour anyway.  Out of love.  My kitchen has character.  That rare attribute that only comes w/ age.  From its retro counter to the curve of its built-in shelves, my kitchen makes me happy.  I like its red color.  I like the way the vintage cooktop wobbles.  I even like the way the tap leaks unless you turn it slightly to the side.  MY KITCHEN.  Like a favorite pair of sweatpants, it’s what you turn to when you’re hungry.

cooktop

Even though I don’t have a dishwasher anymore, I am not angry.  Each day & night as I wash dishes by hand, I look out my lovely window to my nice next-door neighbor’s house. I think about living in this most historic home.  I think about what it was like 250 years ago, when EVERYTHING was work.  And then I feel humbled, and grateful.  For all the modern conveniences I do have.  Like my OVEN!  Even though the dial doesn’t correspond to the temperature, so everything is guesswork – It sure beats cooking over a campfire.

my oven

And there’s my washing machine!!  Which is right there in my kitchen.

my laundry room - in my KITCHEN!

Sure, some people might think that’s odd.  But I don’t.  I am so happy – b.c I LOVE DOING LAUNDRY!!!  And I LOVE to cook.  So now I can do them at the same time!  My husband even wired the clothes dryer into the kitchen, so now I can fry bacon and dry my pants, simultaneously.  But there’s more.  The former owner – when he modernized this kitchen in the 50s, thought practically.  He knew there’d be a need for counter space as well as convenience, and he didn’t want to sacrifice one at the expense of another.  So he crafted a special countertop that lifts and/or slides out from atop the washing machine.

cool countertop

So you can access the machine whenever needed, but when not in use, it functions as normal workspace.  Pure genius!

I know you are all wondering WHERE IS THE FRIDGE??!!  WHERE DO THEY KEEP THEIR FOOOOD??!  When my husband wired the clothes dryer into the kitchen, we had to move the refrigerator into the adjacent keeping room.  Mostly b/c there wasn’t anywhere else to put it.  It took a little getting used to, but now the fridge LOVES it!

fridge in keeping room

He gets to hang out right next to the fireplace.  So he stays cozy warm, even while he’s keeping our ice cream icy cold.  Plus he likes being part of the action.  Sometimes we even throw him scraps when we’re eating.  GOOD BOY!