The essence of this book is in these quotes: “Certain kitchen objects become loaded with meaning in a way that we are not fully in control of.” and “Certain articles of kitchen equipment can also make us feel safe and at home when in reality we are neither.” (pp. 4, 31)
This book is fun to read because it explores the many and varied ways that so many objects acquire meaning in our lives as cooks and as eaters. Some of the stories are personal, involving Bee Wilson and her family. Other stories are taken from friends and even from books, but all concentrate on kitchen gear and how even a large stand mixer can have emotional significance.
A quote I liked, putting the love of crockery into a special perspective with respect to history and also of her friend Paola’s relationship to her pressure cooker (a special thought for me, because my mother had a special relationship to her pressure cooker) —
“It was only with the adoption of cooking pots – which happened as long as 16,000 years ago in East Asia and 12,000, give or take, in North Africa – that what we think of as cooking emerged. For the first time, hunter-gatherers could nourish themselves with grains and a wide variety of plants which needed long cooking in water to make them digestible. For Paola, the pressure cooker has been as transformative as those first cooking pots thousands of years ago. ‘It enabled me to cook certain vegetables that take time’ is how she summarised it when we met. She used this giant hissing pan to boil potatoes, soften cannellini beans, stew peppers to oily sweetness. More than that, it is a tool that has enabled her to eat deliciously and healthily in good times and in bad.” (p. 127)
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| From an online search: a pressure cooker like the one my mother used in the 1950s. |
Family Objects in My Kitchen Now
Reading The Heart-Shaped Tin made me think about the few remaining things that I still have from the household where I grew up. Many years ago, I had a large number of such family hand-me-downs, but over time they wore out in one way or another and have been replaced (including that for a long time, I used my mother’s pressure cooker and her stand mixer, both now replaced, as well as her heart-shaped cake pan).
Reading Bee Wilson’s stories of kitchen objects that represented family memories made me try to think of the few remaining items that I received from family.
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| My mother’s rolling pin and a more recent one. |
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| Salt shakers that once belonged to my mother. |
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| My great-grandmother’s platter, used for Thanksgiving Dinner this year. |
Blog post © 2025 mae sander
9 comments:
Hello,
It is nice you are still using these hand me down kitchen tools. I like the kitchen witch, it is cute. Take care, enjoy your day and the week ahead.
Interesting. I don’t really have kitchen items from my ancestors except for one bowl that I think was my grandmother‘s. I don’t use it, I keep it on a shelf. Actually I think it’s rather unattractive, but I feel obliged to hold onto it.
You got me thinking now, what I have from my mother or grandmother. I have my grandmother's apple corer with wooden handle. And a tiny grey enamel pan that my grandmother used as she always lived alone. It was given to me when I divorced all those years ago. I still have it. I have half of the cutlery set that my mum and dad bought when they married (My sister has the other half).
Happy T-Day,
Lisca
What an interesting concept for a book. My kitchen is full of old things, because I use almost all vintage stuff, but I have my mother's KitchenAid mixer, her cookbook shelf, and a few other things. I also have Aunt Evie's cookie jar, and a mixing bowl just like one of hers. .I love that kitchen witch!
That book sounds interesting. And yes, like you I have a lot of things in the kitchen here (and at the lake) from my parents and grandparents, including Grandma's rolling pin (where I really learned to bake). That also includes the dishes, as mom and I were both dish-people! There is a certain sentimentality to these things and I'd hate to part with them.
That sounds like a really interesting read and one I would also like. And I'm surprised you have salt and pepper shakers just like I remember growing up. I don't know where my they disappeared to, but it was fun to see them. I also have my mom's rolling pin (which I use all the time when I need to roll) and I have my grandmother's cast iron fry pan. Plus a few other things that get pulled out on occasion. What a fun post Mae. Hope your week is going well. hugs-Erika
This is intriguing. Kitchen gadgets are so interesting.
Yes, I also have the cast-iron frying pans that were once my grandmother’s!
It is so very true that kitchen objects take on great meaning. When my parents moved to a retirement home 6 months ago, we all made sure to get the kitchen stuff that meant something to us. I've got a bunch of it in my garage waiting for my daughter to have in her kitchen.
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