A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 47. (2008)

Knézy Judit: Háztartási iskolák, tanfolyamok és a táplálkozási kultúra alakulása a 20. században

THE IMPACT OF HOUSEKEEPING SCHOOLS AND COURSES ON DIETARY CUSTOMS IN THE 20TH CENTURY This paper will include discussion of the following points: a) Preliminary models of domestic economy and agricultural schools in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries For example, Szarvas, a "Practical economy school" with agricultural and housekeeping theory and practice, was opened for 7-13 year-old peasant boys and girls and operated between 1782 and 1806. In Keszthely the "Georgikon" agricultural school for boys existed between 1796 and 1849 and as a domestic economy school for noble girls between 1808 and 1811. b) Agricultural Schools In the first decades of the twentieth century and agricultural school for teachers for boys was founded in Komárom, and, in 1910, a domestic economy school for female teachers was founded in Kecskemét. Furthermore, in 23 institutes for teacher training, domestic economy faculties were opened. Schools for females, which taught cooking, housekeeping, and gardening, and boarding schools for girls which also taught these subjects, were opened (partly as a civil initiative) with governmental direction: from 1908 "'Amisoni" in Budapest; Agricultural Secondary Schools in Aszód in 1908, in Putnok in 1913 and 1924, in Kiskunfélegyháza in 1924, in Budapest in Maglódi line in 1932, in Pécel in 1937 etc. These were one-year and three-year schools. From 1918onwards, domestic economy classes were held for girls in the higher elementary schools and lyceums too. From the 1930s, schools training females in clerical work were also opened. c) Courses held outside the schools from the end of the nineteenth century until about 1950. Nearly all of the teachers of agriculture and domestic economy in elementary and middlelevel schools, held courses, such as, home craft, housekeeping, and household economy courses, and there was an entire network of travelling teachers who taught these courses in the countryside. d) New governmental programmes for professional training in domestic economy at the end of the 1920s There were also lectures on the radio and in the press on the topic, and public libraries were opened in many villages. During the 1930s, writers on rural affairs, churches, and people's academies (KALOT, KIE), sought to further the process of improvement in peasant life. e) Civil initiatives in the villages These provided cooking, preservation, and confectionary courses, and there were lectures by doctors concerning healthy nutrition. j) Societal participation in initiatives The different strata of society took part in these initiatives ad their broad effects. The secondary schools were preferred mainly by girls from families of middle classes, the courses were famous under the girls of peasants families. g) The result of all these initiatives? A more modern household economy was developed, which included the consumption of more vegetables and different kinds of fruit; there was a broadening of methods of preservation, and the overall provision of healthier nutrition (mostly for children, ill, and old people). The production of new dishes (more soups, vegetable dishes, sauces and meat dishes), gradually led to a blurring of differences in local nutrition, as well as the introduction of international cuisine. Judit Knézy