Deskilling the domestic kitchen: national tragedy or the making of a modern myth?

• In the UK, television cookery programmes engage the attention and enthusiasm of large audiences. Celebrity chefs are household names whose books nearly always top best-seller lists. Magazines and newspapers routinely include meal recipes and reports on food-related issues. In this sense, the domestic preparation of food has probably never attracted greater public interest. Paradoxically, much is also now said and written about the general loss of practical cooking skills. The latter takes on a special significance especially in relation to adverse changes in UK eating patterns and food safety problems. The paper contributes to an understanding of this paradox by examining what has happened to food preparation skills. The 20th century was a context for massive social and technological changes, and these were reflected in the domestic environment. Among younger cohorts many of traditional food preparation skills have atrophied but to some extent we can view this in terms of changed timescales of acquisition. Also, on the basis of historical evidence, there may be grounds for optimism in a re-evaluation of the extent and diversity of cooking skills in the past.

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