The forgotten ingredient of our modern kitchens

The forgotten ingredient of our modern kitchens

From The Delicious Legacy by The Delicious Legacy

May 12, 2026 · 55 min · Season 8 · Episode 7

About this episode

This episode explores the impact of time scarcity on cooking habits and the rise of ultra-processed food consumption.

*If you want to listen to the whole conversation with Jenny Linford, with the extra bits, please go to my Patreon page and subscribe from $3 dollars a month: https://www.patreon.com/thedeliciouslegacy?l=en-GB * Hello! Brand new episode is out for your delightful ears! It is obvious given that I often explore historical food themes, that I usually talk about food in time. But what about time IN food? In the 60s the average US house-wife would spend 112 minutes per day in the kitchen. In 2008 this figure was down to 66 minutes per day. A survey in 2022 in the UK found that “the most time consuming chore is cooking. The average Brit spends 253 minutes per week in the kitchen cooking meals. That’s the equivalent of 219 hours per year” and also went on “On top of this, we spend an average of 98 minutes a week washing up, which equates to 85 hours a year and 170 days in our lifetime. That’s a lot of time spent in the kitchen.”  Feelings of time scarcity are increasingly widespread in industrialised societies. People are fulfilling a multitude of roles, possess an array of material goods, and want to get the most out of their leisure time, all of which influence feelings of not…

People in this episode

Host: The Delicious Legacy

Guest: Jenny Linford

Topics covered

  • time scarcity
  • cooking habits
  • ultra-processed food
  • historical food themes
  • kitchen time management

Keywords

  • time scarcity
  • cooking
  • ultra-processed food
  • kitchen
  • historical food
  • UK cooking habits
  • US cooking habits

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Patreon

Places: US, UK

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