Paper short abstract:

Informants have been asked to examine their kitchen drawers and cupboards and tell about artefacts that are no longer in use. The tales of the abandoned kitchen utensils are used to discuss how cultural processes are shaped, negotiated and developed in the trivial practices of everyday life.

Paper long abstract:

The paper tries to uncover tales of kitchen utensils. As part of an ongoing research project on transitions of kitchens, artifacts, meals and cooking in contemporary Swedish households, informants were asked to examine the drawers and cupboards of their kitchen with special emphasis on what they have not used for a long time or have thrown away. This kitchen dumpster diving exercise was a bit like an archeological excavation, where different layers of time are apparent in the same kitchen. Brand new electrical screw drivers were to be found next to baking tins that have been inherited for generations. While some artefacts such as baking machines and fondue pots had been abandoned, others, such as meat grinders are being revitalized.

The kitchen's role as an arena for material cultural heritage will be discussed in the paper. It is argued that cultural processes are shaped, negotiated and developed in the trivial practices of everyday life in domestic kitchens. The main source of theoretical inspiration comes from Jean Claude Kaufmann's thesis that contemporary cooking and eating is located in a field of tension between the rationalities of the first and second modernity.