History of the kitchen

Abstract

Introduction: At what period in the world's history man began the cuisine, the most learned are unable to determine. Hardly in that Paradise from which all tribulation was excluded for there is no doubt that many ills,digestive or otherwise came in with cooking. The word kitchen is found in many languages and means a cooking room; it is derived from the Latin word meaning, to cook. The kitchen is the heart of the house; out of it come the issues of life, not only in a literal physical sense but also in a spiritual sense, to a far greater degree than we are apt to remember. It may be called the engine of the household. Dr.Talmage has said. "The kitchen is the most important end of the household. If that goes wrong, the whole establishment is wrong. It decides the health of the household and health settles everything. The kitchen knife has cut off the brightest prospects; the kitchen gridiron has consumed a commercial enterprise; the kitchen kettle has kept many a good man in hot water. It will never be fully known how much of the history of the world was effected by good or bad cooking." As the songs of a nation show what a nation is, so in lesser or greater degrees do the kitchens.