Kitchen

The battle of the sexes – played out in the kitchen
by Jesma Magill 'Our Homes Today' Editorial Co-ordinator
The kitchen, more than any other room in the house, reflects the changes that have taken place in society. Around 100 years ago – if you were lucky enough to have money – the kitchen was a place you could avoid. Someone else did all the cooking for you, and all you had to do was dress up for dinner and act all posh.Then followed two world wars, and the Second World War, especially, ushered in many changes in society. One of the more significant ones, for its impact on the family, was women going into paid employment to take the place of the men who were fighting on the battlefields.When the war was over, and the men came home, not all the women wanted to go back home to work, and through the late 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, took a more active role in society.The 1960s ushered in feminism, but women still mostly occupied the kitchen. But in the decades leading up to the new millennium, gradual and significant changes have been taking place in the home, the microcosm of society at large.

Thinking back to some of my earliest memories of home; they were about sitting around the kitchen table, sharing a meal with family and friends. The food was the primary nourishment – the thing that brought people together – and bringing people together is what it’s all about.