Search for EfficiencyWe all want to be more efficient in the kitchen, don’t we? Kitchen efficiency was a major concern of the national home economics movement. Their efforts led to smaller kitchens, space-saving cabinetry, and countless time and motion studies to map every movement involved in meal preparation. Home economists gave us the “work triangle,” which specified where each cabinet and appliance should be to maximize production and minimize time. It’s an idea still in use today.  In 1958, University of Wisconsin home economist May Cowles calculated the time and walking distance saved using a more efficient, “synthesized” kitchen for the Journal of Home Economics. via: UW-Madison Archives by way of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Our guest curator Erika Janik joins us for the entire month of May, taking a look at the diverse histories of cooking and eating in the Badger State. Janik is an award-winning writer, historian, and the producer and editor of “Wisconsin Life” on Wisconsin Public Radio. She’s the author of Odd Wisconsin, A Short History of Wisconsin, Madison: A History of a Model City, and Apple: A Global History.
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Search for Efficiency
We all want to be more efficient in the kitchen, don’t we? Kitchen efficiency was a major concern of the national home economics movement. Their efforts led to smaller kitchens, space-saving cabinetry, and countless time and motion studies to map every movement involved in meal preparation. Home economists gave us the “work triangle,” which specified where each cabinet and appliance should be to maximize production and minimize time. It’s an idea still in use today. 

In 1958, University of Wisconsin home economist May Cowles calculated the time and walking distance saved using a more efficient, “synthesized” kitchen for the Journal of Home Economics.

via: UW-Madison Archives by way of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

Our guest curator Erika Janik joins us for the entire month of May, taking a look at the diverse histories of cooking and eating in the Badger State. Janik is an award-winning writer, historian, and the producer and editor of “Wisconsin Life” on Wisconsin Public Radio. She’s the author of Odd Wisconsin, A Short History of Wisconsin, Madison: A History of a Model City, and Apple: A Global History.

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  1. thecrossedarrows reblogged this from wiscohisto and added:
    In contrast to how pedestrians really behave.
  2. This was featured in #History
  3. wiscohisto posted this

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