The Kitchen

"I'll buy everything if you'll cook it."

That one little sentence pulled my attention from the line of people at the check out counter to the women skirting the line to get to the front door. There was nothing about either one that would have taken my attention from the groceries I was holding, the children around me, or the cashier making small talk with the woman ahead of me. Except that the younger one said that one sentence that captured my attention.

It reminded me a bit of a scene in one of my favorite pioneer shows where a young girl wants to know who is going to cook because she doesn't like cooking. This woman, who was probably in her thirties, didn't sound or look like the girl in that show but she reminded me of her anyway.

But unlike this woman, the girl in that show lived in a time when cooking was a requirement for survival. And it was considered women's work. Today we can avoid cooking if we want to. We have hundreds upon hundreds of restaurants to chose from. Many of them sell meals for less than we could cook at home. A trip to the grocery store can get us a refrigerator full of food that never needs to be heated much less cooked. If that is what we desire.

But those women got me thinking... about old time kitchens, wood burning cook stoves, slips of paper with hand written receipts (as recipes were called then), and a time when it was considered an honor for a woman to cook for her family.

Of days gone by when hours upon hours were passed in the kitchen. Days when women cooked three meals a day or their family didn't eat. When families gathered around a table that showed scars from years of daily use, and love. Where company was entertained at that same kitchen table.

A time when the kitchen was considered the heart of the home.