COOKIN’ WITH GAS

The expression cooking with gas was a popular saying during the 1920s but when you stop to think about it, a gas stove was a relatively new invention in the ‘20s and as I was soon to learn, the kitchen was no place for the faint of heart. Perhaps that inspired another expression: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”.

Allow me to elaborate. One of the many things I found fascinating while conducting research for my novel, DOLLFACE, were the domestic challenges facing the average wife and homemaker. For example, according to the website www.1920-30.com, they explain that most women were trapped in their kitchens for 44 hours a week. This was the amount of time these women devoted to cooking and cleaning. That was a full time job and doesn’t begin to touch upon the time spent doing the laundry (including washing diapers by hand) and cleaning the rest of the house. It’s amazing they ever had the time or energy to make babies, let alone, more babies.

Someone had to give these women a hand and it didn’t take long before innovation stepped in to help. It came in the odd form of canned goods and processed foods. Also according to www.1920-30.com and Bon Appetit Magazine, such classic processed foods as Wonder Bread, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Wheaties, Welch’s Grape Jelly and the ever versatile Velveeta cheese all made their debuts in the American home during the 1920s.

They were welcomed items to be sure, but perhaps a bit perplexing. How was the modern housewife and mother to cope with these new food options? Very simply, she turned to Mrs. Wilson’s Cookbook. Published in 1920, Mrs. Wilson was their answer to Julia Child, teaching them how to incorporate these new processed foods into their family meals that would in turn shave hours off their kitchen duties.  Now that’s what they called cooking with gas!