"The Frankfurt Kitchen Changed How We Cook—and Live"

[leno...@yahoo.com]

Interesting. Btw, while the third photo clearly depicts a poor family, maybe from the 1930s (the caption doesn't make it quite clear), I'd bet the room - without the downcast looking people in it - would have a certain charm if everything were scrubbed.

https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/05/modern-kitchen-history-design-ideas-domestic-architecture/586345/



Lenona.

[GM]

leno...@yahoo.com wrote:

> Interesting. Btw, while the third photo clearly depicts a poor family, maybe from the 1930s (the caption doesn't make it quite clear), I'd bet the room - without the downcast looking people in it - would have a certain charm if everything were scrubbed.
>
> https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/05/modern-kitchen-history-design-ideas-domestic-architecture/586345/
>

Thanks, was just going to post that...a good article...

It is interesting that some of the earlier luxury apartments in NYC had no dedicated kitchen...all vittles were delivered "room service" style...

So (some of) the rich and poor living in apartments had something somewhat in common - no dedicated kitchen area...

--
Best
Greg

[Julie Bove]

"GM" <gregorymorr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:117d1b76-b27a-4adf...@googlegroups.com...

I read a book some time back about kitchen history in the USA. I can't
remember the exact time frame now. Perhaps the 1920's? They mentioned tiny
one room apartments in NYC. The kitchens were not separate rooms but a wall
of things. A few shelves, a sink, and a small oven. I believe the oven was
up high on the wall. That's when casseroles became popular. The woman could
buy a few cans of food on her way home from work, then combine them and heat
them in the oven.

These apartments were not meant for families but for young, working women or
the newly married. They were slapped up rapidly to accommodate the growing
population.

I also remember reading of cold water flats. Generally no bathrooms in them.
They had to share a toilet with everyone on their floor. They were not flush
toilets but more like indoor outhouses. They smelled horrible. In some
cases, the sinks in the flats were dry. Meaning no running water but you
could drain water down them. You had to go to outside your apartment and in
some cases, all the way downstairs and outside to get the cold water which
had to be heated on the stove which was likely a coal burning one.

[Sqwertz]

I'm thinking it needs more than scrubbed. Curtains on the cupboard
are torn and falling out, 95% of the mirror above the sink is
missing, the trash can has holes in it, milk sitting out on the
counter, one of those pots is the bathroom, and I think three of
them are smiling while mom reads the instructions for her new iPhone
7 :-)

Can anybody read the box on the sink ".... Task"?

[Nancy2]

Can't read the box, but did anyone notice the "mother" is wearing heels that look pretty darn
modern...narrow heels and all.

N.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Those might be her best shoes, donned for the photograph.

High heels like that were in vogue during the 1920s.

Cindy Hamilton

[Nancy2]

Oh, I do think the photo was posed for the occasion, Cindy. But they are modern heels,
not ones styled in the twenties, IMO, which had a longer toe box and chunkier
heels.

N.

[jmcquown]

I was just about to say the same thing!

Jill

[penm...@aol.com]

On Fri, 10 May 2019 22:12:40 -0500, Sqwertz <sqwe...@gmail.invalid>
wrote:

>On Fri, 10 May 2019 07:32:45 -0700 (PDT), leno...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>> Interesting. Btw, while the third photo clearly depicts a poor
>> family, maybe from the 1930s (the caption doesn't make it quite
>> clear), I'd bet the room - without the downcast looking people in
>> it - would have a certain charm if everything were scrubbed.

That looks earlier than the '30s unless it's in poor PA with that wood
stove for cooking. The first picture showing the fridge is about
1940... looks like Crosely or Kelvinator... they were obviously well
off as hardly anyone had an electric fridge until at least 1947,
previously most folks had an ice-a-box.

[leno...@yahoo.com]

On Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 1:54:35 PM UTC-4, Sheldon wrote:

>
> That looks earlier than the '30s unless it's in poor PA with that wood
> stove for cooking. The first picture showing the fridge is about
> 1940... looks like Crosely or Kelvinator... they were obviously well
> off as hardly anyone had an electric fridge until at least 1947,
> previously most folks had an ice-a-box.

I think it was Suellen M. Hoy, in her 1996 book "Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness" who said that before WWII, most rural houses, at least, did not have indoor plumbing OR electricity. Don't remember if she said anything about the stats regarding urban houses.

She also pointed out that as labor-saving devices became more available, housewives were expected to raise the standard of cleanliness in general - so no, they DIDN'T have more leisure time. Until, that is, baby boomer women started rebelling. She said that boomer women would say to her: "Our mothers kept the floors so clean you could eat off them every day. Well, that's ridiculous - we don't eat off floors."

But (I don't remember if she mentioned this), once women stopped exhausting themselves trying to maintain antiseptic households, they suddenly had a problem. That is, they started gaining weight. So that's partly why the exercise crazes and weight-loss diets got started. (By contrast, farmers and their spouses typically work so hard, they can eat almost anything they want and not gain weight. Think of what Almanzo ate in "Farmer Boy" - as Barbara M. Walker pointed out, his meals were loaded with "starches and sweets," but he didn't get fat, and no wonder, when you read how hard he worked.)

In the 1983 book "Talking With Your Teenager - A book for parents" by Leni Zeiger Wildflower & Ruth Bell Alexander (Ruth Bell wrote "Changing Bodies, Changing Lives" for teens) the authors point out in one chapter that society's message to girls is (not verbatim) "learn to cook fabulous, gourmet meals for family and friends, but don't eat any of it yourself!"

Sounds a bit like torture, right? So, with that in mind, was it any surprise that as early as 1960, Peg Bracken wrote the "I Hate To Cook Book"?

And here's an anecdote about what all that lead to, by 1982, from Ann Landers. (Very amusing.)

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19820727&id=9yAsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2MgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1969,4800258&hl=en

(She doesn't actually mention how women USED to burn off calories by doing housework. But that wasn't the focus of the letter - the issue was how to have a good party without wasting your effort on "unappreciative" guests.)


Lenona.

[leno...@yahoo.com]

On Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 1:54:35 PM UTC-4, Sheldon wrote:

>

> That looks earlier than the '30s unless it's in poor PA with that wood
> stove for cooking.

The caption says it's in Cincinnati.

[GM]

leno...@yahoo.com wrote:

> On Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 1:54:35 PM UTC-4, Sheldon wrote:
>
> >
> > That looks earlier than the '30s unless it's in poor PA with that wood
> > stove for cooking. The first picture showing the fridge is about
> > 1940... looks like Crosely or Kelvinator... they were obviously well
> > off as hardly anyone had an electric fridge until at least 1947,
> > previously most folks had an ice-a-box.
>
>
> I think it was Suellen M. Hoy, in her 1996 book "Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness" who said that before WWII, most rural houses, at least, did not have indoor plumbing OR electricity. Don't remember if she said anything about the stats regarding urban houses.
>
> She also pointed out that as labor-saving devices became more available, housewives were expected to raise the standard of cleanliness in general - so no, they DIDN'T have more leisure time. Until, that is, baby boomer women started rebelling. She said that boomer women would say to her: "Our mothers kept the floors so clean you could eat off them every day. Well, that's ridiculous - we don't eat off floors."
>

The *biggest* single advance in history that liberated women was the introduction of automatic clothes washers and dryers and synthetic detergents after WWII - when Tide advertised itself as "The Washday Miracle!" that was not hyberole, it was the truth:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide_(brand)

"The original Tide laundry detergent was a synthetic designed specifically for heavy-duty, machine cleaning (an advance over the milder cleaning capabilities of FeWA and Dreft). Tide was first introduced in U.S. test markets in 1946 as the world's first heavy-duty detergent, with nationwide distribution accomplished in 1949. Tide claimed it was "America's Washday Favorite". Authority was quickly gained in the U.S. detergent market, dwarfing the sales of Ivory Snow; and accelerating the demise of two of its main competing products, Rinso and Gold Dust Washing Powder, both then Lever Brothers brands..."

--
Best
Greg