How did kitchens develop

Few places in a home today in many countries are as important or symbolic for our social bonds than the kitchen. More than just a place to prepare meals, the kitchen represents the place where we often also develop deep social bonds with family and friends. The kitchen does not simply provide for our daily nutrition but also helps to reinforce our social character.

Early History

In early complex societies in the Near East and in the eastern Mediterranean, including Crete and Cyprus, many homes had open fire places or covered ovens with a fire burning inside (similar to modern tannur ovens used for bread baking). These places for cooking were often open places so that the smoke can escape. Some homes may not have had a specific place for cooking, such as smaller homes, where a shared communal space may have been used for making meals. Wealthy people generally had more elaborate rooms that had facilities for storage of foods that was often next to an open space for cooking. In very wealthy residences, or even palaces, food storage may have been more elaborate, where types of ice houses and large storage rooms would have been present. Some kitchens could also be enclosed, where a possible chimney could have carried the smoke for cooking fires.