Soup kitchen, Kitchen stadium, backpacker's kit?
Breakroom sink with microwave and coffeemaker?
At its most elemental a kitchen is, what?
For me, a clean flat surface and a heat source; I can bring everything else (water, knife, ingredients, instructions, vessels, cleaning supplies, speciality items). But I am come to believe that I am old-fashioned, and therefore somewhat anachronistic.
Culinary lab in a school where NCLB hasn't eliminated that "liberal nonsense" yet?
We talk about food here, and we've talked about making food -- methods and formulae, since I first moved into my stairwell. Lambert created a book of recipes at one point, and we had a most engaging series on winemaking a year or so ago. But what we haven't talked about, so far, is Equipment. We've talked about education and the serious antipathy to poor people inherent to not just our government but our whole society. So now I ask: what constitutes the most elemental of kitchens? What is the minimum that can be used to create food, economically? How do we get that into the hands of -- along with the skills to use it -- people at economic disadvantage?
I come from a background that includes chuckboxes, campfires, barbecue grills, folding ovens, hobo stoves, and exposure to both Alton Brown and Tim Taylor's notions of how to make food. No, I haven't built the turkey-fryer derrick.
I've cooked on park grills and pop can stoves, over burning twigs on a bed of sand beside a clear shallow creek somewhere in Camp Bullis -- that "survival course" weekend, thirty-odd peacetime years ago, *stuck* with me -- via Coleman and Esbit and Bunsen, and boiled water over candles confined in a tuna can (this does take a certain skill).
About the one thing I haven't done is the Lovejoy trick where you pour some petrol into a basin of sand and light the dirt to cook. I expect it would work.
But I hid an immersion heater in my underwear drawer in Air Force dorms so I could have coffee or tea (you can melt those thermal mugs right down around the heater if you don't watch out) -- and 20-some-odd years later carried one in my backpack so I could cook in a cheap hotel in the Valley.
There's a prerequisite: you have to be able to get your hands on food. There are places in the US where that's not an easy thing to do, either because you lack the wherewithal to pay for it, the means to keep it within reach, transport to a market, or all the above.
What are some good foods -- nutritionally speaking as well as financially -- that a person can utilize without needing a refrigerator? (There goes meat, dairy, and most produce, by the way. Potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and garlic will keep awhile if you have them well-ventilated, as will some fruits; but unless you can get them dried or canned, the more exotic veggies -- like corn, peas, and peppers -- aren't practicable.
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I think a lot about this
because I'm usually cooking and dealing with food in faraway places. The idea of a "kitchen" is so different in Asia! In Hong Kong, for instance, you'll rarely find any ovens (unless you get a really expensive, expat apartment), and the stoves will have one, at the most two burners run off of gas canisters.
I actually think that a refrigerator is not necessary, I've been in many places (indeed, tropical ones) where people do just fine without them. You can have powdered milk (ubiquitous in the Middle East), or canned condensed milk (the default choice of so many Caribbean and Latin American housewives). Yogurt can last at room temp for some days, and milk can be boiled down into a paste or hung for cheese to preserve it (see: India).
The most crucial thing, I think, is not the equipment, but access to great fresh food daily. Most cities in Asia (and also my little corner of Brooklyn, New York) have fresh, daily open air produce markets that you can walk to. Like this one I was in recently, in Luang Prabang, Laos:
There's a movement afoot here in NYC to encourage fresh food vendors to go out to less affluent nabes. I think if we could make good fresh produce available, at competitive prices (the markets in Asia are really cheap), to average Americans, that the quality of our daily cuisine might begin to match that of the Thai or Lao peasant....
Simplicity
One of the things people are seeking when they come camping is simplicity - and the associated benefit of engagement. Simple, direct meal preparation frees the attention and time to build experiences together. At least, I hope that is the plan.
movement afoot in NYC: thanks for that
how to we export it to other parts of the country?
It's been 12 years since I did it but I spent a week in LA without a car. No, I didn't huddle into a spot in fear -- I walked some, and rode buses some, and even took the subway once (turned out to be the wrong one. I wanted to go to the beach and ended up way downtown instead. My bad.) In all that time I saw ONE place to buy food (instead of a restaurant, that is) -- a 'farmer's market' that went from sidewalk to basement levels with a wonderful stainless-steel railing. Best meal I ate the whole time in LA? Pint of fresh strawberries and pint of real milk, consumed on a bench nearby under a shade tree, bought from that market. It cost me nearly $5 then, but it was sustaining!
Tropics (and I don't mean artificially watered ones like inland SoCal) have long growing seasons. What about places (like, to some degree) NYC, where the growing season is shorter?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Here's the link on NYC's new fresh food carts
from the NYT:
There are one or two guys in my nabe who sell veggies and fruits from the back of trucks. They do it year-round, and not all of it is locally produced. That's another hurdle.
There's also a terrific Greenmarket farmer's market program that does bring local produce to neighborhoods--at least during growing season.
There are carts all up and down the East Coast
They are especially prevalent in Philly and DC.
And I've got nothing against the hot dogs they sell from those carts in Philly, in fact I love them, and they're cheap, but it would be nice if there were something better in addition....
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
No, no these aren't hot dog carts
They're trucks selling fresh produce. They park on certain streetcorners in various neighborhoods. Like the Italian guys in South Philly market.
I understood that
I'm just thinking "existing infrastructure"....
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
1,000 carts -- how much geographic/populace ground
must each one reach to be effective? and will they take food stamps / NYC equivalent?
Poor people by definition don't have a lot of extra cash. Last time I looked you couldn't go to the drive-in at McD's or BK or LJS with food stamps ... it would be great if you could get real food into the hands of people with little to no money.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
I know for sure the NYC Greenmarkets accept food stamps
but I'm not sure about the cart vendors. I think I've seen one with a "WIC coupons" sign.
When we lived without electricity
Ergo no refrigeration, we found that eggs lasted quite a while. You have to break them into a cup or something first to make sure they are good. If the yolk stays intact you are good to go most times.
What makes a kitchen? Now that's a good question I can't answer. Perhaps a container to cook in, a heat source, some water, and a stirring utensil. Oh and a knife to peel and cut things up with.
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot." - Albert Einstein
splashy9, easier way with eggs: fill a cup with enough
cold water to cover the egg, and set the egg in the water. If it lays on its side on the bottom it's still good. If it stands up on end, use it within 48 hours. If it floats, get rid of it -- do not break it.
and do tell us more about life without electricity -- I do it pretty regularly, camping, but that's a different thing.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18