In the Kitchen

On its surface, the kitchen seems to be a rather unremarkable, utilitarian kind of place where work is done. Nowadays, many kitchens have dishwashers, microwaves, and other extras. Nearly all modern kitchens have certain basic features; a refrigerator, an electric or gas stove, a sink, and usually a kitchen table with chairs. This hasn’t always been so.

I can imagine my great-grandparents, even my grandparents, working in a kitchen that had no sink, no refrigerator, no electricity or gas. The main features of one of their kitchens would have likely been a wood-burning cookstove and a table with chairs. The “sink” would have been a metal washbasin and the water in that “sink” would have been drawn from a well or collected from a spring and heated on the stove. Lighting would have been from daylight streaming through windows during the day and kerosene lamps at night. Refrigeration would have been provided by nature; the cooler temps of winter weather or the cold water of a springhouse.

Wood would have been placed in the stove and the cook would have let her experience aid her in regulating the cooking temperature by finessing the damper and the logs. There were no dials to turn to high/medium/low or the degrees for the oven. Tenderloin, gravy, apples, eggs, and potatoes were likely fried in heavy cast iron skillets as tender biscuits baked in the oven at the beginning of the day. This breakfast has been cooked by my family members for decades, even centuries. I call it an ancestor meal as back in the day, it was likely a regular meal. Nowadays it is likely a special and occasional treat.

 
In the kitchen, mothers prepared the meals that their families’ survival depended upon and children were educated in how to do the same. Recipes and traditions were passed down from generation to generation. Dried apple stack cakes, just like Grandma Nancy’s were baked and assembled. Children learned how to work the biscuit dough just enough and not too much so that the biscuits were light, fluffy, and delicious just as they had been from time immemorial.

                                        

 
In the kitchen sink, dishes have been washed, produce has been rinsed, turkeys have been thawed and babies have been bathed. Back in the day, even adults would bathe in Grandma’s kitchen after filling a large galvanized tub with warm water.

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On the kitchen stove, myriad meals have been prepared. Mason jars have been sterilized in readiness for preserving the bounty of the summer harvest. Baby bottles have been sterilized and warmed. Corn has been popped to make popcorn balls.

In the kitchen, learning to pitch in and teamwork have been taught. One person has stirred the gravy while another has mashed the potatoes, another has sliced the turkey, and yet another plates the ham. All have worked together to prepare a wonderful feast to be shared with all.

 

In the kitchen, many prayers of thanks have been given; thanks for meals as well as the hands that prepared them, thanks for the safe travels that had brought loved ones together, and requests for safe travels on their returns home.

In the kitchen, babes have sampled their first real food and learned how to use spoons, forks, and cups. In those same kitchens, meals have been prepared for ill loved ones; a dish that used to be a favorite prepared to tempt a dying loved one with no appetite.

 

In the kitchen, children have licked cake bowls and beaters, and uncles have scraped the peanut butter fudge pan clean.

 
At the kitchen table, homework has been done, projects have been worked on, Bibles have been read. Catching up with loved ones has occurred over hot cups of coffee or cold glasses of pop. The past has been revisited, and details of the present and dreams of the future have been shared.

 

 

In the kitchen, life has been celebrated. Candles have been blown out after wishes were made. Sweet icing has been licked from lips. The addition of new family members has been celebrated in the forms of baby showers, bridal showers, and wedding cakes. Years of loving togetherness have been recognized. The knowledge of being celebrated by family has warmed hearts.

 

And family members have gathered in the kitchen after the funerals for loved ones. Coffee has been forgotten, growing cold in the cup as family members numbed by grief have sat around a familiar table missing a familiar face.

In a kitchen, living, with all of its joys and sorrows, occurs. In the kitchen, the heart of the home beats.