The Mechanics of Kitchen Gadgets
In the new title, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human, Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham proposes that the difference between humans and animals stems from the collective discovery of cooking. Cooking led to changes in living behavior and gender roles that allowed human culture to develop. While it was popularly thought that the use of tools separated man from beast, animal behavior research has shown that creatures as diverse as chimpanzees, woodpeckers, sea otters and vultures use tools to obtain food and protect themselves against predators. While other theorists may have different views on what distinguishes humans from other primates, I have never seen a Chimp use a food processor. Maybe what makes us human is using kitchen tools, gadgets, appliances…kitchets.
The following pages are an attempt to explore the science and mechanics behind a selection of kitchen gadgets. Using simple physics and layman terms, I hope to provide a new perspective on the human ingenuity behind some everyday, household mechanisms.
Listen to an interview with Richard Wrangham on NPR's May 30th, 2009 All Things Considered.