Main entry:

Cromley, Elizabeth C.

Title & Author:

The food axis : cooking, eating, and the architecture of American houses / Elizabeth Collins Cromley.

Publication:

Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2010.

Description:

viii, 269 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The one-room house and the emergence of function-specific spaces, 1600-1750 -- Developments in space and technology, 1750-1850 -- National unity, regional diversity, 1850-1900 -- Efficient space, electric power, 1900-1940 -- Food spaces in the modern style, 1940-1975 -- All spaces are potential food spaces, 1975-2010.

Summary:

Blending architectural and social history with the necessity, and the passion, for food, this engaging new book attempts to understand the development of the American house by viewing it through one very specific lens: the food axis. Taking in far more than the kitchen, the author explores all areas of food management within the home: preparation, cooking, consumption, and disposal. Her food axis implies a network of related spaces above and below ground, both attached to the house and separate from it. Studying the use and interaction of these spaces, and the ways in which their components change (often radically) over time, the author shows how these elements have helped shape the multiple forms of residential architecture in the United States, from the first settlement period to the present.
Beginning with the earliest, and relatively simple, houses, the author traces changes in food spaces through the years, noting a steady escalation in the number of food-related rooms. Along the way, she considers multiple circumstances that shed light on this evolution, including the role of gender in determining food-space design, the relation of food spaces to nature, and the telling ways in which people and food circulate through kitchens and dining rooms. Because Cromley is interested not only in how designed spaces look but how they are used, she cites a wealth of primary sources: autobiographies, travel journals, household diaries, letters, and inventories, in her exploration of the habits surrounding all aspects of food in the home. --Book Jacket.

ISBN:

9780813930077 (cloth ; alk. paper)
0813930073 (cloth ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Architecture, Domestic Social aspects United States.
Domestic space United States.
Architecture and society United States.
Food habits United States.
Espace domestique États-Unis.
Architecture et société États-Unis.
Habitudes alimentaires États-Unis.
Architecture and society.
Architecture, Domestic Social aspects.
Domestic space.
Food habits.
United States.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 273539
Call No.: BIB 207190
Status: Available