A Brief History of the New England Kitchen

 

Richards and her colleagues opened the New England Kitchen (NEK) on January 1, 1890, two years before oekology was officially established. The NEK was located in Boston and was one of the first take-out restaurants in America. The purpose of the kitchen was to provide the poor of Boston with inexpensive and nutritious meals that they could take home to their families (14).   The NEK, writes Historian Harvey Levenstein, was based on Richards’ belief that the chemical analysis of food could not just be used to determine the nutritional value of a meal, but should be used to actually prepare meals (24).  Thus, the NEK was not only a public kitchen, but a food laboratory as well. In the food lab, scientists created some of the first scientifically formulated foods, including bread, beef broth, and evaporated milk. In addition to being a kitchen and a laboratory, the NEK was also a demonstration and educational center. Along with courses on nutrition, the staff  held cooking demonstrations as well (12, 32). 
 

 

Initially, the NEK received a lot of positive attention and was extremely successful. Jane Addams, founder of the Hull House in Chicago, and Julia Lathrop, a Chicago-based social reformer, invited Richards to Chicago to establish a similar nutrition program for the Hull House and the University of Chicago (24).  Like these more recognizable Progressive Era reformers, Richards thought that her own scientific social reforms could improve the lives of unhealthy, inefficient, and ignorant people by providing them with access to healthy, inexpensive food.  While historians have analyzed Richards in the context of the Progressive Era and have acknowledged that she was in contact with the most influential female and male reformers of her day, few consider her a legitimate Progressive Era reformer. Yet, Richards's professional relationship with the more notable reformers demonstrates that she was far more than a nutritional expert they employed as a consultant. Rather, they called upon her because she was the best food analyst in the country. They asked Richards because her goals for society were comparable to their own.  They respected her and considered her a colleague (3).
 

 

Even though the NEK drew the attention of prominent reformers, Richards’s public kitchen was ultimately not a success. Robert Clarke, one of Richards's biographers, and Alice Ardent, editor of Culinary Biographies, assert that the NEK failed because Richards had not taken into account the palates of her primary customers: poor immigrants from southern Europe. Both authors write that immigrants did not appreciate the “American” menu. They especially disliked the Indian pudding, which they believed would never cause them to turn into Yankees (12, 14).  
 

 

Unlike Clarke and Ardent, Levenstein, argues that the Indian pudding was not Richards’s only pitfall. He asserts that:
 





 

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It is undeniable that Richards was using science to prove to the ignorant members of society that social reform was beneficial. It is impossible to argue that Richards did not believe that the way she led her life was far superior to the way her poor, uneducated contemporaries choose to lead theirs. And, lastly, it indisputable that Richards believed that the only way the “ignoramuses” of her time would improve their lives was to imitate hers.

 

 

But, while Richards undoubtedly attempted to impose her views of right living on the impoverished and malnourished of America, there is little evidence to support Levenstein’s claim that Richards never revised her reforms or that  “[by] 1897 [she] had given up on the working class” (24).  In fact, she continuously reworked and reinvented her reforms (see Euthenics).  Furthermore, she never abandoned her belief that the adults and children of the American working class could improve their lives by learning about nutrition and forming healthy eating habits. Her unwavering devotion to improve the lives of the lower class via nutritional reform is clearly demonstrated by her involvement in the establishment and her continued support of the American school lunch program.