Spring 2021

ON THE COVER: The beauty of Buddha bowls. Photo by Terri Milligan.

What is it about the kitchen that makes it the communal centerpiece of most homes? At least that’s the way it was in my house, growing up in Wisconsin. Was it a German thing, or do most cultures also find refuge there?

At family gatherings, at least during the cold of winter, conversations always seemed to emanate from the kitchen just like the smells that seemed to draw so many people there in the first place. The preparation of food, with the thievery of a bite or two under the guise of an appetizer, was worth hanging around, chair or no chair. Ever notice how many people stand around in the kitchen?

But it wasn’t just at gatherings that the kitchen held a spell over people; it pretty much set the tone for everyday life in my childhood home. So much so that I hardly ever remember my mom and dad watching television in our TV room even though it had our first color television. But I guess when you grew up in the era of radios, the small black & white television that my father inset into one of the kitchen walls was more than ample as they sat around the kitchen table.

Speaking of kitchen redesign, we’re going to touch on kitchens in this issue, and it’s considerably more than just punching a hole in the wall like my dad did. In talking to Marilyn Jensen, owner of Sister Bay Trading Co., she felt the kitchen has benefited from the times we’re currently facing. She said the money couples and families may have set aside for travel or other indulgences seems to have been shifted to homes during this time of Covid.

At family gatherings, at least during the cold of winter, conversations always seemed to emanate from the kitchen just like the smells that seemed to draw so many people there in the first place.

You’ll hear more from Marilyn in the story by Sue Anschutz in this issue, but her remark seemed a good launching point into reaffirming what the kitchen has always been and what it has meant in this battle against the virus. Never has the kitchen been more of a bonding area than it is right now.

If anything positive should come out of this pandemic, it just might be that more meals are coming out of a family’s own kitchen. While I enjoy a night out of dining as much as the next person and certainly am craving the Friday night supper club fish fry, I am blessed with a wife who knows how to cook.

Cambridge University seems to know a thing or two about everything, so when it published results from a survey that reported that people who eat more at home tend to live longer, it simply reinforced the power of the kitchen.

I must admit that when we had Gast family get-togethers, you could often find women segregated in the kitchen while the guys often were playing cards elsewhere.

This is not to lessen the importance of the kitchen, but rather the fact that if it weren’t for the women in our clan we all would have gone hungry. Thankfully they were willing to share.

Times have changed, as the genders have tended to merge in the kitchen as the desire to play a hand of cards can’t stand up to the appetizers that are often spread out in these larger, more functional and aesthetically-pleasing spaces.

The kitchen, renovated or not, retains its importance within the family. It will regain even more significance as we emerge from the pandemic with more and more friends welcomed into what many refer to as “the heart of the home.”

Jon Gast 
Co-Owner/Editor of Edible Door