Felicia: The evolution of the modern kitchen. So if you haven't noticed, if you've never looked at historic homes or anything, our kitchens have definitely changed. And I think just like our front porches and the architecture of our homes have changed, I think that actually makes a big difference and a re and is a reflection of our society and how we perceive food, how we consume food. All of those things. So we're going to be talking about some interesting basically things that I have noticed in regards to kitchens. And I think it'll be very interesting discussion because I do think our kitchens matter when it comes to how we are consuming and enjoying our food. So, y'all, welcome back. This is an extension of the Grains and Grape YouTube channel where we I'm pretty much unedited, unfiltered, unsifted version. ⁓ and kind of go in a bit deeper thought. deeper thoughts with y'all of things that are that have just been on my brain. And ⁓ and so for those who are new who maybe found this podcast and have never seen me on YouTube, do know that I've got I teach all about real whole grains, all from a biblical perspective. I teach about milling your own grains, ⁓ whether that's wheat or whatever it is, baking good wholesome bread, cooking through the scratch, why it matters. all the things. So definitely check out my YouTube channel. But I've got some freebies for y'all, like a home, you know, home milling guide, ⁓ all of these new things, a newsletter, and all of that will be in this the description box below, in case you are new and have no idea who I am. So we're gonna talk about today basically ⁓ the evolution of a modern kitchen. And the reason that this has been on my brain is because I'm actually currently planning a kitchen remodel. Which I am both dreading yet excited about because the kitchen is one of the main ⁓ rooms in my house that I definitely use. I'm a stay-at-home mom, I'm a large family mama. ⁓ I have this YouTube channel, I bake a lot, I cook from scratch like pretty much all meals every single day. you know, being that we are a family that stay at home, I mean, trust me, our kitchen is being used all the time. And the fact that I might have to go without it for a little bit. Kind of terrifies me, but also I'm excited because my kitchen is not gonna last much longer. It's falling apart. ⁓ we hide it well in videos. But ⁓ and and if you've ever done a kitchen remodel and you have some tips for me, please comment below. I'm all ears. But anyway, ⁓ so in saying that, and I also have some family that has like built a new house, and I was kind of ⁓ talking with them about, you know, how do you like it? How do you like the layout? All of that stuff. And it really got me thinking about our kitchens. And especially because I've read an article a few years ago about the evolution of the front porch and how pretty much no one has front porches anymore, which definitely showcases the fact that people aren't really doing front porch sitting anymore. We're not really visiting with our neighbors. We're not communing together as a community and And it kind of shows in our architecture. And it's really made me realize that also is reflective in the design of our homes and our kitchens. And so we're gonna kind of go back, look at the history of our kitchens and kind of what it is today, and then my thoughts about how that reflects our relationship to food and also to our family and friends and who else we have in our house. So back in the day. If you've never been to like a real historic type farm or or home, ⁓ around here I'm a native Floridian and I've been to a few Florida cracker homestead sites. And side note, if you don't know what a Florida cracker is, ⁓ it's the name of basically our pioneer ancestors back ⁓ the day, they got the name crackers because they were the original cowmen. They were cattle farmers. And they got the name crackers from the crack of the whip when ⁓ dealing with cattle. And so they were known as Florida crackers. So it's not just a term for white people. ⁓ but ⁓ I definitely go back to those ants those ancestors and ⁓ any of those homes and any other type of home, and what you see is you usually have the main house and then a separate building. behind the house, which is where they would do their cooking. ⁓ this is reflective in many type of old historic homes before ⁓ you know, we we had like the ovens and stuff, and basically when people were cooking with fire, and this was very smart to do that because fire was going a lot and you're cooking with it, the likelihood of accidentally starting a fire was high. And so if that was the case, a fire got out of control. It was just that one building, not your entire house that burned down. And so I always found that very fascinating. And I and I love seeing them. So again, the main house, the kitchen, separate building out back. And that reflected the way that people would do cooking. Now I have seen it where sometimes it would be like the kitchen and then like this little dining area right beside it where the family or whoever, you know, they would dine there. Sometimes that's just the kitchen. where there would just be cooking. So it really just varies and depends. But ⁓ I found that that, you know, that was a reflection of those times when people were mainly cooking over fire. You didn't want the whole big house to burn down. So if something happened, it was just that small bit. Well fast forward to our more modern times where then we had electric ovens, maybe even you know our propane gas ovens where basically things were a little bit more contained. We're now in the modern ⁓ modern world. Also, you know, we now have electricity in the homes and people have, you know, refrigerators and things like that. And so that's whenever you and this is, you know, your kind of mid-century, those 1950s idealistic type ⁓ houses, you know, suburbia is now coming up. You now have like the housewives, the June cleaver type mentality. ⁓ and the kitchens, you know, they're They're now becoming more electronic. ⁓ but they're now inside the house because you know, not really cooking over wood fire anymore, less likely for that to happen. ⁓ and so now the kitchens are inside, but if you look at a lot of the architecture, ⁓ it was the kitchen was still a separate room, and then people would have like, I mean, we're talking door closed and everything, and then usually there was an actual dining room. Now, some houses may have had a little like breakfast nook. if you've ever kind of seen ⁓ like the Dick Van Dyke show, if you notice like their kitchen, you know, that was in a separate room, but they had a little breakfast area. But then to actually entertain or to have like ⁓ more of a formal type regular dinner, they was outside they had a little dining area that that's where they would participate. But the kitchen was still very closed off. And I think that ⁓ there are many reasons for this. First of all ⁓ kitchens were still mainly being used to cook or at least prepare food in the homes. And that's a whole other story, whether it's just a TV dinner or whatever. The bottom line is that food was still mostly being prepared in the homes, and the kitchen was definitely a working kitchen. And if you've ever stepped into a kitchen that is being used, it is not entirely, you know, spick and span and clean and you know. It may be clean, but like, you know, stuff is going on. And that's not something that can it can be kind of I think visually cluttering whenever you see it. So that's why people put it behind closed doors and then to actually entertain, you have your dining room, your entertainment type space. This also goes with the fact that you know, whenever people had domestic help, whether they were wealthy, middle class, regardless, whenever there was domestic help involved, the the dining room is definitely a separate area. From the kitchen because you know you're not wanting to see your servants who or whoever it was, ⁓ the hired help preparing the meal and you know, doing all of that. It was definitely more of a formal type dining experience where you were at the table, you're able to enjoy your company, and they serve the dishes without the clattering and stuff that goes on in the kitchen whenever you were preparing food. ⁓ and so I think for probably most of the history. That probably is a huge reasons why kitchens were separate, is because many times, especially the wealthier were, you had servants, or yeah, I know we there were slaves at one point. But bottom line is someone else was doing the cooking and ⁓ it was more of a servant type thing, and then you were served in your dining room. It was more of an entertainment spot. Now, fast forward to I'm not sure entirely when this trend kind of caught on. Now I do I do remember whenever I was growing up, most kitchens were not completely closed off like they used to be, like were like with doors and everything, but it was still either a like a separate room and people also had their dining rooms. So they would be separated in some way, whether it be like, you know, how you have like the bar area and cabinets, you know, so that might be it, and then just an opening to get to your dining room or whatever it was. ⁓ so it was still kind of closed off. but you could kind of see in it. And so that was that started happening. And I think that was becoming more of a thing in architecture because I know we didn't have cooks growing up. ⁓ come like 80s, 90s, I think it became less common for Americans, especially to have domestic help in the kitchen. And so most of the times it was, you know, the moms. Or whoever was in the house, grandma, whoever it was, preparing the food. And I have great fond memories, you know, of just going in the kitchen and my grandmother was preparing food and but yet it was, you know, it was open. It's not like we had to go through a door. So it felt a little bit more inclusive. But you still had the separate dining space. The kitchen was still slightly separated, so you could hide a bit of the work that you were doing. we also buffet style. many, many times through the kitchen. But ⁓ I would say that was kind of that eighty eighties, nineties type architecture where it was like a semi open kitchen. ⁓ but you could kind of see into it. I hope this makes sense. Let me let me know if you know what I'm talking about. Because especially fast forward to modern times. And I have to say this is something that really irritates me. And that is actually the complete open floor plan. Now, if that is what you have and you love it, go for it. Okay. It is your home. You do it however you want. I'm not knocking it. I'm not saying you're stupid or anything if you have it. Me personally, I do not like the completely open floor plan that a lot of people, I know just you know, with more of the modern styles. Where you walk into your front door and there you see the living room, the kitchen. I mean, you just see everything right as you walk in to the front door. ⁓ you know, just that completely open room. Now, good news is it looks very spacious. And also good news is that if you are the one working in the kitchen, you're not gonna feel excluded, you know, if you have guests in the in the ⁓ in the living room or whatever it is. And That kind of leads me to, I think, why this has become more of a style is because I think, in my opinion, again, this is not a blanket, you know, for everyone statement. And I think a lot of that reflects the fact that we have less cooking in the home now, less baking in the home, and instead we do more takeout or we have like catering if you are. having guest over or something. It's more of you bring the food into the home and you kind of lay it out on your big island or in your kitchen. And it's more, you know, come and get the food. But with that open concept, whenever as far as entertaining goes, you can, you know, entertain. This also is reflected, I think, to our TV type culture, where now more people are actually eating in front of the TV and not actually using a dining room, which is Why dining rooms have pretty much disappeared. Most houses that I see, if you have any sort of dining space, it's just kind of an extension of your kitchen. It's not an actual dining room, like a separate room where you're just gonna eat in. And that's kind of a two two fold thing where like the elimination of the dining room, the separate dining room, the combining of that with the kitchen. And a more of an open type concept is like is I do believe that that reflects the fact that we are consuming food in front of televisions. We are no longer really eating together as a family. It's not really a priority to regularly be sitting down at a table eating food together. And and I say this because I grew up this way where we, you know, both my parents worked, we were all public school, ⁓ we were very busy. Outside of the home, and we rarely ate together as a family. Like there were a couple houses we lived in that had an actual dining room and we rarely used it because we just weren't really home. ⁓ I mean, we were, or it was just more formal. I mean, sorry, informal. You know, sometimes we would eat in front of the TV, especially as we were getting older. and you know, maybe not everyone was at the house because. we were all involved in different activities. And I think because of that, that's what kind of led to this more open floor plan is because now it's kind of more of this, you know, it's all one space, you know, you're not the kitchen's not really being used. We don't need to hide it. ⁓ you know, it's not really a work kitchen anymore. It's just a place to kind of hear lay out the food. And then you can eat in front of the TV. and stuff. And again, this is all just kind of my theory. I would really like to hear from you if you have noticed this trend because I know for me personally, I I want my kitchen closed off and I want a separate dining room because I want to be able to, you know, to entertain people and also eat with my family in a separate place because sometimes I mean y'all I I like to kind of clean up as I go when when cooking and stuff, but that's not always the case. And for us to sit down at the at our dining room table, which we have your typical where it's the kitchen, and then here's the dining space, you know, where you put a table, and there's your kitchen. And after I've been working in it, it's just like it there's stuff on the counters. It is kind of a cluttered mess. And that's kind of what we see when we're eating a meal. ⁓ and so for me personally, I think it's a better experience to have a separate dining room and you can ignore that mess for a little bit. Okay. Had to do one little quick edit there because someone needed something in my office and had to come in. So, but bottom line is that whenever you just have that open kitchen and whenever you really are in there doing those baking days and stuff, that's that's just not what I want someone to see. As soon as they come in my house or just see when we're sitting down and eating a meal is like all the dishes that have piled up by the sink and stuff. ⁓ you know, whenever whenever we're eating. I think it's just kind of a it's not a good ambiance. It's kind of that visual clutter. ⁓ so that's kind of just my thought process. And I'd like to hear what you have to say in the comments. I mean, do you do you eat together as a family? And I know that some of y'all may be empty nesters. Or ⁓ or what maybe you're single, whatever the case may be, but I think it's so important that we come together as a family on a regular basis, I would say every day, and we eat a meal together. ⁓ that you're not just kind of roaming in the kitchen and you know, grabbing some food, whenever, and actually being more mindful about our eating habits, able to enjoy the food that has been prepared. And then you enjoy the fellowship with other people, with your family, with your guest, whoever it is that you have over at your house. So that's kind of my thoughts. Again, like how we no longer have the big front porches anymore, because our communities have shifted. We no longer really have neighbors just visiting each other. I think a lot of social stuff happens online. You know, we're in front of our TVs or whatever it is now. And I think we've really seen that change with our kitchens and it just being reflected that we're not we're not really cooking anymore at home, we're not preparing wholesome food as much anymore because we're always on the go. ⁓ you know, things like that. And I encourage you that if that is you, slow down. You know, take some time, slow it down and to have some people over. Have some friends over. Prepare a good, delicious meal. It didn't have to be fancy, okay? It can be spaghetti. Spaghetti. And some good garlic bread. Okay. It don't have to be fancy. Just just a nice good meal. And, you know, have a bottle of wine or or whatever it is that you like to have. ⁓ and enjoy the fellowship with people without any, you know, put your cell phones away, put the TV away, and just enjoy the time together. And good news. Good news. You can do that, no matter the architecture of your home. Whether you have a dining room or whether you just have a table in your kitchen, you can still enjoy having people over and good fellowship. As Christians, we are called to break bread together and to also do that with our families as well. So those have just been my thoughts as far as the kitchen, just things that I've noticed. And I think it's interesting to see changes like this. How it reflects, how it reflects certain things in our world. And you may be hearing my dog whining in the background. Please ignore. So, as always, let me know your thoughts below. I'm really curious to hear about it. And as always, I hope y'all have a wonderful day. And I will talk to y'all again later. Bye.