Cseri Miklós - Sári Zsolt (szerk.): Vidéki életmódváltozások a 20. században (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 2009)

Szőke Judit: Konyhai modernizáció – A gáztűzhely megjelenése és elterjedése a falusi háztartásokban a 20. század második felében

Judit Szőke MODERNISATION OF THE KITCHEN Increasing popularity of gas cookers in the second half of the 20™ century I am going to talk in my lecture about the popularity and the daily use of gas cookers in the 20th century. I approach the subject from three aspects. First I outline the historic and economic background of the emergence of final goods, referring to the difficulties in the fifties and to the changes following the introduction of the new economic mechanism in 1968, as well as to the birth of new consumer behaviour, to the mechanisation of households and to the transformation of lifestyle. Further to the historic aspect I talk about the role, the function, the changes of function and the devaluation of gas cooker and kitchen range. Here we cannot avoid the subject of survival, transformation and eventual disappearance of summer kitchens. Finally I treat the daily use and the purchasing of gas cookers; I mention the social differences, the different levels of modernisation in village and town and the role of "protection" (having good connections). Further, I talk about the special transport means, the cleaning and other possibilities of use of gas cylinders. 268