Cooking Leading To Deep Thoughts and a History of the Kitchen Stove

I cooked like a crazy woman yesterday, doing two different soups, and our chicken for dinner. My refrigerator is stacked with containers of yummy goodness that will last me, hopefully, for more than a week. Ideally, these will last me for 10 days or so. I also honey roasted some carrots and baked some pears. I made two of my favorites because it's easy to make them on the same day. My Asian Vegetable-Beef Soup cooks on the stove top, and my Spicy Kielbasa Soup cooks in my slow cooker. So I got the Kielbasa soup started first, then worked on everything else while the slow cooker worked its' magic. I do love modern appliances. 

Look at these antique gas stoves. I'm estimating these 
were from the 1950's or so, but I can't find a date and 
don't have the time to research it. It almost looks as 
though the very back top is hinged and would close 
down over the burners. Can't say for sure on that either, 
though. 

A century ago this particular kitchen routine would have been next to impossible. There were no slow cookers, the kitchen stoves/ovens/ranges that we use without much thought these days also didn't exist. There were stoves - of course. A different style, however. The electric or gas stoves that we use daily now weren't even a whisper of a dream in the 1920's. We might dream about the 20's as having been a milder time, an easier time, a "fun" time in which everyone danced the Charleston and wore flapper dresses or Zoot suits. But in reality, the 1920's were days leading into the Great Depression of the 1930's, the Dust Bowl and the beginning of things like Social Security and governmental work projects throughout the nation to keep people employed and fed. 

In the 1920's, this stove may have been in your 
cooking/food preparation area. It was top of 
the line for its' day. Gas operated, it was one big 
step away from the wood burning stoves of the 
late 1890's through early 1900's. 

History always seems to look a little bit better through the warped glass of the past. World War II? It was just a big war that lasted a lot of years and cost a lot of lives. Well, yeah. It was that, and it fulfills that description, but it was a lot more than that. It was fear, running away, leaving everything behind to flee the soldiers ahead. It was D-Day and the atomic bomb and Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. It was war that spread from the Reich through to reach almost every point of the entire world. And it will look like children having a playground fight if we lose our ability to think with a conscience again. 

This was a typical (actually rather high-end) gas stove 
from the 1950's. Although I could cook on this, it would 
still not be adjustable enough for my purposes, and those 
tiny ovens would be a problem. Still, it was quite a step up 
from the stoves of 50 years prior. 

It almost seems as though we, as a species, are hard-wired for self-destruction. That after coming out of our previous conflagration, digging in our heels and rebuilding, we can't resist tearing everything down and starting again. Our sand castle keeps falling apart, and/or others come along and kick it down. We seem incapable of making and maintaining relationships between individuals, neighborhoods, cities, states or nations. We are, at basics, a very territorial and confrontational mammal, and sometimes it does us good to remember that. 

Today's stoves are glass cooktops, clean 
and straight. The "burners" are elements that 
never see a pot directly. The stoves are sleek, 
minimalist, and actually a lot of fun to 
work on. I don't have a stove, I have an electric 
cooktop and a separate wall oven. It wasn't my 
choice, I didn't design my house. But it works 
well for me, and I use it A LOT. 

So, as I head to the swimming pool on this day, to work off some of my frustration with the "human" race, I do hope you'll reach out to others today. Even if it's just to say a kind "Hello" or to hold a door open for the next person. Let's remember that kindness also spreads, and do our best to leave the world a little better place tonight than it was early this morning. I love you all - my readers and my long-distance friends. Slava Ukraini.