Kitchen Essential

When you change from processed to fresh and whole foods you will need less room for packaged, canned, and frozen produce, but at the same time more space for fresh leaf and root vegetables, fruit, dry staples, such as pulses, rice, pasta, dried fruit, and home preserves. Modern kitchens are rarely designed for storing bulky items and hardly ever have access to the old, efficient larder or pantry, or to a cellar or basement. A healthier diet, with raw or lightly cooked vegetables and less meat, will cut down on cooking but requires more varied preparation space. You will also need extra bins for sorting waste for recycling and composting.

A simpler lifestyle requires fewer gadgets and less equipment, necessitating fewer built-in cupboards. Ideally, you will have a larder, but if this is not possible, you will need a food cupboard sited against a cool external wall with several vents to the outside. Built-in cabinets are not essential and many functional and attractive kitchens have freestanding furniture — corner cabinets, worktops and benches, dressers, floor cabinets, and tables and chairs. They are made from solid, durable, and natural wood and are far healthier than the ubiquitous formaldehyde- impregnated particle board units covered with plastic laminate. The recent trend toward the “unfitted” kitchen is an indication of people’s desire for rooms that are also warm, practical, and comfortable living areas rather than streamlined, uncomfortable, food-processing centres.

Since you will be spending less money on food, you can afford better quality, as well as kitchenware that is well designed, functional, and looks attractive when displayed by the work centres and preparation areas, rather than hidden away in cabinets and drawers until needed.

You must store perishable foods correctly, probably in a combined refrigerator/freezer. And you must keep dairy produce, meat, fish, and poultry at a constant low temperature, or buy it fresh and cook it on the day of purchase. In cold climates, a food safe built against an outside wall is likely to be at a safe low temperature; in temperate regions, you can store milk and butter in containers of water covered with porous clay pots or wet muslin and allow the process of evaporation to keep the produce cool.

The old-fashioned larder has largely been replaced by the refrigerator and freezer. But this large, walk-in pantry is ideal for storing bulky items, dry goods, fresh vegetables and fruit, preserves, wines, beer, and soft drinks. Best sited on the cool side of the house, it should be dry and well ventilated, ideally through a window with a fixed vent as well as air vents in the other walls, all covered with fine, fly- proof wire mesh. Healthy, natural materials, such as marble or solid wood shelves, quarry tile floor, and water-based paints, ensure that the larder is both practicable and hygienic.

Preparation

The campaign for labour-saving and efficient kitchens has not necessarily freed women from the drudgery and isolation of housework — that needs a change in attitudes. And, although modern equipment has eased certain chores, shopping, cooking, and cleaning for a household, even a small one, still take time and effort. In reality, many of the gadgets and equipment on the market have much more to do with advertising and the manufacturers’ desire for continuing profitability than with actual needs and demands of the consumers. In addition, these labour-saving products are not always in the best interest of ourselves or the planet. In terms of the environment, labour saving usually means that energy-intensive processes are involved; packaged convenience foods that are quick to cook and serve have consumed a vast amount of energy during their preparation — the end-product of a series of steps, including processing, packaging, storage, and transportation. Also, convenience foods are less nutritious than fresh types and their preparation removes us from the world of real food. Handling fresh ingredients is a pleasure and can be as much part of the stimulating process as eating the finished meal. Rather than a chore, food preparation can be regarded as a relaxing and sensual activity that brings out and highlights your creativity and appreciation of colour, texture, smell, and taste. For a dedicated cook, these are the permanent inspirations and values of even the simplest meal.

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