The 1950s Kitchen

The 1950s was the first great age of the modern kitchen. Labour-saving appliances, bright colours and the novelty of fitted units moved the kitchen from dankness into light, where it became the domain of the happy housewife and the heart of the home. New space-age material Formica, decorated with fashionable patterns, topped sleek cupboards that contained new classic wares such as Pyrex and 'Homemaker' crockery, and the ingredients for 1950s staples: semolina, coronation chicken and spotted dick. Electricity entered the kitchens of millions, and nowhere in the home was modern technology and modern design more evident. Bold colour, clean lines and stainless steel were keynotes of the decade. This book – a celebration of cooking, eating and living in the 1950s kitchen – is a feast of nostalgia, and a mine of inspiration for anyone wanting to recreate that '50s look in their own home.

The 1950s was the first great age of the modern kitchen. Labour-saving appliances, bright colours and the novelty of fitted units moved the kitchen from dankness into light, where it became the domain of the happy housewife and the heart of the home. New space-age material Formica, decorated with fashionable patterns, topped sleek cupboards that contained new classic wares such as Pyrex and 'Homemaker' crockery, and the ingredients for 1950s staples: semolina, coronation chicken and spotted dick. Electricity entered the kitchens of millions, and nowhere in the home was modern technology and modern design more evident. Bold colour, clean lines and stainless steel were keynotes of the decade. This book – a celebration of cooking, eating and living in the 1950s kitchen – is a feast of nostalgia, and a mine of inspiration for anyone wanting to recreate that '50s look in their own home.

Author of the forthcoming What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories (Summer 2017) In this captivating blend of culinary history and popular culture, the award-winning author of Perfection Salad shows us what happened when the food industry elbowed its way into the kitchen after World War II, brandishing canned hamburgers, frozen baked beans, and instant piecrusts. Big Business waged an all-out campaign to win the allegiance of American housewives, but most women were suspicious of the new foods—and the make-believe cooking they entailed. With sharp insight and good humor, Laura Shapiro shows how the ensuing battle helped shape the way we eat today, and how the clash in the kitchen reverberated elsewhere in the house as women struggled with marriage, work, and domesticity. This unconventional history overturns our notions about the ’50s and offers new thinking on some of its fascinating figures, including Poppy Cannon, Shirley Jackson, Julia Child, and Betty Friedan.

Here is a cornucopia of more than 300 great recipes from the Golden Age of American Home Cooking, those wonderful days of hot dogs and hot dishes, of green bean salads and green bean casseroles. This book is a celebration of the times when life was simpler and when our whole family gathered around the supper table every night for wholesome, home-cooked meals. Whether you grew up in the 1950s or in the 1990s, these recipes will evoke a time and a table where the food was delightful, and when cleaning up our plates was pure joy. Book jacket.

Modern living began with the homes of the 1950s. Casting aside the privations of the Second World War, American architects embraced the must-have mod-cons: they wrapped fitted kitchens around fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and electric ovens, gave televisions pride of place in the living room, and built integrated garages for enormous space-age cars. So why was this change so radical? In what ways did life change for people moving into these swanky new homes, and why has the legacy of the 1950s home endured for so long? Diane Boucher answers these questions and more in this colorful introduction to the homes that embody the golden age of modern design.

Modern living began with the homes of the 1950s. Casting aside the privations of the Second World War, American architects embraced the must-have mod-cons: they wrapped fitted kitchens around fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and electric ovens, gave televisions pride of place in the living room, and built integrated garages for enormous space-age cars. So why was this change so radical? In what ways did life change for people moving into these swanky new homes, and why has the legacy of the 1950s home endured for so long? Diane Boucher answers these questions and more in this colorful introduction to the homes that embody the golden age of modern design.

"This study examines the meanings of the kitchen to women who were wives, mothers, housewives and homemakers in the 1950s in Western Australia. It uses qualitative data collected from oral history interviews with migrant and Australian born women. The book provides insight to women's everyday lives and analyses practices, such as cooking, ironing, budgeting, shopping, dishwashing and decorating which provide women with power. Central themes of this study explore the meaning of home and kitchen design and analyses how practices of the kitchen inform women's multiple identities. It also shows how dominant discourses, such as domesticity, femininity and efficiency reinforce gendered notions of women's work in the kitchen. Moreover, the book examines points of resistance, it shows that women perform their everyday practices, design their kitchens and decorate them in ways that perhaps were not always intended by domestic science experts, designers, architects and manufacturers."--GoogleBooks.