Postscript: If you take a look and enjoy the Confined Kitchen https://confinedkitchen.blogspot.com hurrah! But we know others are struggling, so please consider a foodbank donation www.trusselltrust.org/get-involved/ways-to-giv... #PMAC21 16/15
Our kitchens, food experiences and shopping habits have been materially affected by the pandemic. As gathering and sustaining places, kitchens have had to adapt to new realities. Thank you so much to the #ConfinedKitchen crew for making a wonderful digital place. #PMAC21 15/15
Celebrating food and one another culminated in a virtual story-telling event, the Snow Queen told by Vanessa @LondonDreamtime. Tastes and scents anchored the story which marked a year of collaboration, a year of managing feelings and strangeness. #PMAC21 14/
As time has passed comfort has come in other ways too. Some are season-specific like #ConfinedChristmas. #UnconfinedWalks began on 29 October 2020 as mutual support for exercise in shortening days. Tweeted photos and walks reports show us embedded in localities. #PMAC21 13/
A kitchen is a space to share worries, have a natter, find relief. Our talking largely happens on Twitter: it and the blog are international. The #ConfinedKitchen was always about mental health support as well as food. ‘First of all, you’ll eat’ and then we’ll talk. #PMAC21 12/
We also take comfort in comfort food and other nostalgic eating and drinking. Many forms of cake (easy/complicated, home-made/ordered in), recalling Home Ec classes. Dreams of eating in missed holiday destinations and what we cook abroad. Strong food + place memories. #PMAC21 11/
The physical and emotional comfort of our kitchens is being found in the digital spaces of the blog and Twitter, like the semi-synchronous #ConfinedCookalong. #ConfinedCocktails every Saturday at 7pm is an important diary fixture, BYO drink of choice with snacks! #PMAC21 10/
As time passed, material as well as digital exchanges began. They include the edible (Puy lentils) and longer lasting souvenirs: stickers from Melinda, mementos of missing holidays and lamented travel, a #ConfinedKitchen cookbook specially for Melinda from the bloggers #PMAC21 9/
This was born of shortages and problems getting supermarket deliveries. Our kitchens lacked normal products and recipe-specific items because shop shelves were empty, alternative suppliers were tried and as we went longer between shops. #ConfinedSubstitutions started. #PMAC21 8/
We all started to explore our cupboards and #ArchivedIngredients was born. Melinda posted the challenge https://bit.ly/3tPhDFC we cooked with ingredients well after their BBE. 5 yr-old tomato puree. 6 yr-old panettoni. 8 yr-old spelt flour. Katy’s saffron from 1995. #PMAC21 7/
Our real and virtual kitchens reflected ways the pandemic was turning the world upside down. Photos illustrating blogposts show cluttered surfaces in living/working spaces. New arrangements appeared, like the first family Zoom call. We shared our topsy-turvy feelings. #PMAC21 6/
Themes quickly emerged, we experienced the first moments of congruence in our lives. Many people were making risotto. Stew was a grown-up meal. Adapting home into office space. Shut schools. Feeding everyone at home, every mealtime. Stockpiling, sometimes accidentally. #PMAC21 5/
The first blogposts were about uncertainty, rapid preparations, knuckling down, finding cheer in the face of terrible global news. 63 in the first 14 days alone (18-31 March) and 81 in April 2020 as reality struck. The digital kitchen grew quickly as we stayed at home. #PMAC21 4/
It began in the March 2020 run-up to UK Lockdown 1. Melinda tweeted her idea, Liz created a website + plan for group participation. Bloggers found it/were found via Twitter networks of colleagues, friends and acquaintances tweeting about impending CV-19 restriction #PMAC21 3/
The Confined Kitchen is at https://confinedkitchen.blogspot.com imagined by @melindahaunton, built by Liz @greensideknits. It’s a space for people to swap recipes, talk food, share culinary experiences (some unique to pandemic times). A ‘food community in confinement’ #PMAC21 2/
Welcome to the #ConfinedKitchen, brought to you by Melinda @melindahaunton and Katy @artefactual_KW. In ‘The Confined Kitchen: Cooking (and mental health) in the time of coronavirus’ we look at a digital network with real-life outcomes benefitting minds and bellies. #PMAC21 1/
