Conventional wisdom holds that advances in technology have made our lives easier by automating and speeding up previously manual and time-consuming tasks.as bea wilson illustrated in the essay hustle and bustle (Excerpt from Women related to food), which is rarely the case, at least when it comes to home cooking. Wilson's history of women's labor in the kitchen celebrates several inventions that actually revolutionized the way home cooks prepare food: the Instant Pot and the gas oven. But these are just outliers in a long parade of gadgets and appliances that increase rather than reduce the effort required to put together a meal.
The advent of home appliances did not necessarily make women's lives easier, as it coincided with a fundamental adjustment in the division of roles between men and women. This case was described by Ruth Schwartz Cowan in his landmark 1983 book, using his scholarship and wit. do more work for your mother. From about 1860 to 1960, the American household steadily shed its colonial character and became industrialized. This century saw countless new machines appear on the market, from cheese graters to toaster ovens. From electric waffle presses to blenders. But at the same time, the entire workflow of home cooking changed, and it didn't benefit women. Cowan observed that in pre-industrial U.S. rural kitchens, men and women were forced to work together to prepare food. A housewife might simmer a simple meal of meat and grain in the kettle, but her husband would grow the grain, butcher the meat, and build the fireplace. He grew corn. She baked cornbread. Children would also help their parents by carrying buckets of water. In contrast, the advent of industrially milled flour, cast iron stoves, and running water meant that women were left alone in the kitchen, solely responsible for making dinner.
Another problem with labor-saving devices aimed at women is that these devices have always appeared at the same time as rising culinary expectations, ultimately resulting in cooks becoming more exhausted than ever. . After 1850, the whisk became a true obsession in American households. Between 1856 and 1920, an astonishing 692 patents were issued for this tool, the most famous of which was the Dover with two rotating beaters. When it comes to making fluffy egg whites, these elaborate designs aren't an upgrade over the French balloon whisk (a piece of engineering that can't be improved upon) or the old-fashioned birch twig whisk. Don't worry if there are occasional bits of bark in your meringue. It wasn't until the advent of electric mixers in the 20th century that whisking eggs became fundamentally easier. In contrast, early patented whisks offered only the illusion of ease, coupled with the feeling that making perfectly whisked eggs was something women should do, and the women who owned Dover felt he had to make a gorgeous cake out of it. The popularity of these whirligigs also coincided with the new craze for angel food cakes, which required large quantities of eggs to be beaten white and yolk separately. Rather than cutting women's jobs in half, this latest and greatest system could actually double them.
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