Kitchens, Cooking, and Eating in Medieval Italy : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers : 9781442248946 : 1442248947 : 16 Oct 2017 : The modern twenty-first century kitchen has an array of time saving equipment for preparing a meal: a state of the art stove and refrigerator, a microwave oven, a food processor, a blender and a variety of topnotch pots, pans and utensils. We take so much for granted as we prepare the modern meal ? not just in terms of equipment, but also the ingredients, without needing to worry about availability or seasonality. We cook with gas or electricity ? at the turn of the switch we have instant heat. But it wasn't always so. Just step back a few centuries to say the 1300s and we'd find quite a different kitchen, if there was one at all. We might only have a fireplace in the main living space of a small cottage. If we were lucky enough to have a kitchen, the majority of the cooking would be done over an open hearth, we'd build a fire of wood or coal and move a c