HUMOR: History of Cooking trivia

[Sharon Blumenstein <SHABLU@AOL.COM>]

You can tell it's a lovely, long holiday weekend, but....
As if you haven't had enough of the kitchen, and 10 classes a day is start=
ing
to look easy, here's some kitchen trivia I found on the Thermador site (no=
t an
endorsement, just citing my sources ) while trying to contact them about m=
y
dishwasher.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prehistoric Man invents fire, discovers that woolly mammoth tastes much be=
tter
cooked.

7000 BC Residents of Near East warm food in clay pots placed over oil lamp=
s.
We have them to thank for the chafing dish.

2000 BC Wealthy Greeks and Romans drink from bottles. The poor make do wit=
h
hollowed-out ram's horns.

AD 700 The turnspit is invented, cooking whole animals nicely and evenly b=
y
turning a crank.

AD 701 Dogs are trained to run in a wheel that turns the spit so the chef =
can
watch soap operas.

1500 Leonardo da Vinci sympathizes with dogs and invents the first kitchen
gadget that uses the heat of the fire to turn the spit.

1600 Someone decides to brick up the kitchen fireplace and the world has i=
ts
first enclosed oven.

1630 John Sibthrope becomes patron saint of kitchen appliances when he pat=
ents
a metal version of the enclosed oven and fuels it with coal.

1802 Sir Benjamin Thompson, after inadvertently inventing the drip coffee
maker and the double boiler, fabricates the world's first compact metal ov=
en
with ventilation pipe.
 1800-1830 Gas ranges are introduced, and, due to leaky pipes and bad
construction, kitchens are blowing up from England to Russia.

1886 Josephine Cochrane proclaims in disgust "If nobody else is going to
invent a dishwashing machine, I'll do it myself." And she did.

1890 Electric stoves make the scene with thermostats so crude a chef has t=
wo
options: raw or incinerated. They were expensive to boot, and electricity =
was
still a novelty. Needless to say, the idea didn't catch on for a while.

1946 Dr. Percy Spencer, while working with magnetron waves, accidently
discovers that the same technology used to mess up enemy radar signals was
responsible for melting the candy bar in his pocket. And the Radar Range w=
as
born.

1952 Microtechnology shrinks the Radar Range to a manageable size and
homeowners (with money to burn) introduce microwave ovens to the kitchen.

1954 Thermador introduces its first product at the World's Fair =AD a buil=
t-in
wall oven. The exhibit is thronged with fans.

1975 The first microwave oven with a browning element is launched Thermado=
r.
Microwave cooking becomes all the rage.

Sharon Blumenstein, Emek Hebrew Academy Library Director, Sherman Oaks, Ca
email:    shablu@aol.com

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