Shrinking Kitchens of Hong Kong
Introduction to the phenomenon: Shrinking Kitchens of Hong Kong
With the rise in global population in mega city-country of Hong Kong, and increase of the property prices, the number of private homes required by residents keep increasing every year on year. This is leading to the rise in demand of creating more homes within the limited available space as allotted by the government to build residential buildings. Since there are a greater number of homes within the same space, the allotted area of construction for each individual sub-space of home decreases. This includes reduction in size of ‘the kitchen’ amongst all other areas for a private residence and commercial spaces. (As a matter of fact, Hong Kong remains to be one of the most housing unaffordable cities of world, and notably one of the most expensive ones when land prices and rentals are considered as economic parameters.)
What is a ‘Kitchen’?
Going by basic definition of a Kitchen, it is a place (usually a room) within home or a commercial space to cook food and store it. It essentially has a fireplace called stove or similar modern cooking apparatus and a sink. It also functions as a storage space of all other objects that are related to the cooking activity and used in one way or other in preparation, storage, and serving of food. One main activity that happens within kitchen is the cleaning of objects which are used for cooking and eating.
Kitchen is supposed to have enough space to hold and operate various helpful appliances which aid cooking.
Kitchen in Hong Kong
In today’s time and relating to Hong Kong, a kitchen might also include apart from the above, keeping space of a fridge, a blender / mixer-grinder, juicer, a microwave, and hot water kettle. Due to space scarcity inside the apartment and non availability of terrace, balcony or separate laundry place, most of the Hong Kong homes include the facility of keeping washing machines within the kitchen premises.
Some of the modern-day kitchens also double up as dining spaces. This depends again on the interior construction and design of the apartment. These kitchen spaces are usually open area kitchen.
Food Culture and Eating in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong’s culture, food occupies a very central role in people’s lifestyle.
Hong Kong is primarily constituted of the 94% of Cantonese (Canton is a part of the greater China) ethnicity of people. But the Hong Kong culture is evolved as a fusion of traditional Chinese, Cantonese, British, various Western nations’ and Asian tastes.
Chinese people are food lovers, while Cantonese love to eat more. When it comes to Hong Kong people, they go overboard to make it a part of their morning to night social ritual and enjoy showcasing and bragging about it as much as they love the taste of it. In today’s technologically advanced Hong Kong, people love taking pictures of their food and enjoy posting on various social medias. Food is a pivot around which many discussions of day happen. Preparation of food and activities involved around it is discussed with pride amongst the locals. Food is also the key element of economy, trade & culture that binds the Hong Kong people together, given a fact that Hong Kong has one of the highest densities of local restaurants.
People of Hong Kong love to eat out. They have a variety of gourmet options to choose from. Eating together is a community ritual amongst locals. Cooking at home is done by various families and individuals who have enough time to prepare and enjoy homemade food.
As per one of the websites, there are approximately 20.4 restaurants every 10000 people in HK (data of 2017). It makes HK one of the top cities with highest number of per capita restaurant options. (https://lacrucci.com/why-hong-kong-highest-density-restaurants-in-world/)
Food can easily be called as the ‘object’ that is , attracting all the attention of our ‘hero’ the Hong Kong person, and will be the part ‘subject’ of this report. Whereas, ‘Kitchen’ as a space where our ‘hero’ is supposed to be, shall be the main ‘part’ of study.
Hong Kong, a ‘Gourmet Paradise’ – but where is the Kitchen Space?
Desire for taste & culinary instincts are very high amongst the residents and visitors equally. Hence, the expectations from the served food is also at a very high standards compared to other places. Hong Kong is not only home to the locals of the canton area, but as well a haven for many who have either migrated here over the due course of modern Hong Kong’s two and half century old history or are dwelling here as temporary expats from other countries. Hong Kong also sees a large number of tourists influx every year owing to its popularity as a mega metropolis. This fact also contributes to Hong Kong being the ‘food paradise’ of the world. To maintain their image, attract more customers and rise above the tough growing competition in the food market, restaurants maintain a very high standards of taste, health and hygiene. They also keep innovating with various additions to the menu.
On the other hand, for cooking options at home kitchen, HK market offers a variety of imported produce and food items. Since most of the Cantonese food need fresh ingredients, meat, vegetables and poultry produce is available in various wet markets and supermarkets. The wet market products are usually fresh and sourced locally (mostly within Hong Kong and China). Being in the list of top 10 largest importers of consumer goods, and amongst the highest in per capita consumption of food, Hong Kong people need more space to carry out the activities related to eating and cooking. Modernization of habits has adversely affected the cultural home cooking and the eating habits of Hongkongers* in the manner they prepare food and consume it.
*( ‘Hongkonger’ is an acceptable English word, and was officially included in Oxford English Dictionary in March 2014)
Understanding the phenomenon in respect to the various levels of Manifestation of Culture.
The ‘Kitchen’ has a relationship with Culture at its various levels and depths of the manifestations from Symbols, Heroes, Rituals, and Values. At some places the manifestations are strongly visible whereas at others it might not be so well spun.
Out of the 4 levels of manifestation, there is very fragile bond between the outermost ‘Symbols’ and kitchen. We do have some historical evidences of kitchen space and various related activity in terms of ancient drawings and wall paintings. It has been more about the space and the activity when it came to kitchen. In local context of Hong Kong, the ‘kitchen’ remained a pivot around which early lifestyle evolved. Now, it is more of a functional value in very modern context.
Heroes of the kitchen are the chefs. The Chef is similar like a commander-in-chief of the army who dictates the terms and controls the flow his army, or like a captain on board, who decides which way the ship will sway. There is not any such discriminatory evidence of whether a man or a woman should be holding on to the reigns of the cooking wagon. However, as family structure has evolved over the millennia, the shift towards feminine controlling the palette war is slightly more than obvious within the closed walls of a home. But, outside the home it is mostly men who are the chefs at restaurants and dine out hotels.
Space at workplace is one of the keys to happiness. This is true even for the heroes of offices, or inside a kitchen. Be it a kitchen of a Michelin star restaurant or that of a small apartment in a mega city like Hongkong, everyone loves space to work to be able to perform at his / her best. Since the population density in HK is extremely high, people usually do not want to rub shoulders with each other in workspace. Kitchen is the workspace of the heroes in action.
In a small family the onus is usually on the leading lady of the house. Hongkongers are cooperative when it comes to community or social cooking activity. Men also contribute to cooking, specially more so when it a fun activity like outdoor barbecue style cooking. As explained earlier that the food preparation requires a numerous set of different activities, family members and friends of theirs, would join hands to prepare various food. Some are experts of a particular cuisine and most sought after heroes of cooking, while some others are happy to be the sidekicks.
With the diminishing size of the kitchens the new unsung heroes are the ‘foreign domestic helpers’ (a.k.a. FDH) who struggle to find a life out here in Hong Kong to earn a living. The FDH are employed by various families in Hong Kong to help in many activities of home, out of which taking care of the kitchen and food is a primary one. The FDHs spent most of the time in household. Some of them spend larger amount of time in the kitchen. It’s observed that the very modern apartment also has a small room attached along with the kitchen for the FDH to stay within the family house.
Rituals form a greater bond with Kitchen in the Hong Kong culture. All activity which happens in and around kitchen can be termed as a food ‘ritual’. Since the Hong Kong food involves a lot of activities for preparation, it is a tedious task. Right from making a decision what to eat, planning the menu, then sourcing the raw ingredients of the food, and then cooking it in an elaborate style is all a lengthy process. Most of the food style in Hong Kong is primarily produce based which is either seafood, meat or poultry and is also supported by an abundant portion of vegetable or plant-based diet. Now for example, considering a particular type of food say seafood alone; it requires numerous hours of preparation. It starts from the very catching/ buying of fish or sea produce, then cleaning and preparing to cook, and then cooking it. If a family has to prepare a crab, that means the crab has to be sourced from the wet market or from a food store, then it has to be cleaned and prepared in larger than a small table space. So, it requires more than just a small tabletop and more than a few minutes to be fully cooked. Crab is not a quick soup or a 2-minute readymade ‘chow-mien’.
The job of cutting, dressing, cleaning, steaming, stir frying, sautéing, serving, etcetera are just the few pre-processes before the food is consumed or eaten by family. Then once the eating is done, family has to ensure that all utensils & cooking vessels are cleaned, dishes are washed, dried and stacked back in the racks for ready to use the next day.
The Hongkongers love to fill up their tables with various types of food at dinner. After all, dinners are not just dinner, it a family gathering. It a daily ritual. Dinner table is the place where all the chit-chats happen. At the dinner, family sit together and share jokes, eat, drink, talk about family and friends, and discuss everything else that is happening in their lives. Since Hong Kong homes are also not very big as elsewhere globally, so a family finds it nice and comfortable to stay longer at the dinner table which gives them more social interactive time.
Dinners are like mini ceremonies, and that is carried out very next to the home kitchen. This is more popular for family of larger sizes and those who live with parents and kids.
For couples and singles, this is not so much of a ritual. Live alone people and couples mostly end up eating outside or eat take always unless cooking at home.
Even though, there has been a significance influence of the British in the lifestyle of Hong Kong people, it has not yet adulterated the extensive eating habits of the local traditional minded population. This means that the food rituals remain to be centred around the Cantonese style.
Values are deep rooted in Cantonese culture. For Hong Kong people it is socially important to be able to spend time together for eating, be it at the breakfast, lunch or dinner. Even the tea-time has its own deep-rooted values in Cantonese culture. These values are not seen tangibly rather they are felt as a part of the society’s ethos. Usually young and elderly enjoy the tea together at the teatime. Milk tea which has emerged as the peculiar Hong Kong style tea is enjoyed by all ages of adults.
Practices followed by the Cantonese shows the importance of kitchen or the dining space in the Hong Kong culture, and outlines its deep-rooted philosophies.
Interaction of Culture and Design in relation to the Hong Kong kitchen.
Hong Kong culture has one of its foundation pillars built around food and related practices. It’s very well observed in the presence of multiple eateries, restaurants, and food carts, in Hong Kong. With the passage of time, fast food culture has also spread out widely, but the traditional food still has its own space in local culture. Owing to the fast-paced life, the evolution of food styles could not be stopped, but allowed to suit to the generations tastes and preferences. Foods that can be prepared and consumed quickly have made to the menus of the home and restaurants equally.
This forces to re-think the architecture. Basic space and equipment required to prepare food is challenged. Quick bites mean less time to be spent actually preparing the food by self. Dependency on readily available food is increasing largely. If there is an urge to eat an elaborate style cuisine at home, when there is no willingness to prepare, people find it easy to source it from the local shop or from wherever they wish to. Fuelling to the phenomenon, the society of Hong Kong has evolved with multiple eateries around every neighbourhood.
With multiple options of food available outside the home, dependency of people on cooking, and storing food in home kitchen is further reduced and ongoing. This shift of society to depend on the readymade food options from cooking it entirely at home, has forced planners and architects to rethink the space needed for kitchen. In market, food is available at various price points and suits all sorts of palette desired, so why bother to cook all the time!
Do all people always cook at home? This is a very basic question to be thought over. Do people need a very elaborate and expansive kitchen, when most of the work is motorised, when people have options of converting frozen food to ready-to-eat, and when some or whole part of the food is outsourced?
Last but not the least, the question of Skill is also bothering. Past generations have spent a lot of time and effort, within family to learn the culinary skills and practices from their elders, to be able to cook, and not just cook anything easy but to be able to do an elaborative preparation of all sort of cuisines. Fast paced life and demanding economy has forced to work for more than an average of 47 hours every week. It means people stay away from homes for most of the times. The residential areas are not all the time nearby the workstations. Due to this people have to commute from their homes to the workplaces. Mostly Hongkongers commute from their home to work. This is another reason why people cannot spend enough of their time in cooking.
Some Quick facts* about Hong Kong, which supports the fact of shrinking kitchen sizes.
*(Source: Various government & public domain media websites and demographic figures)
· Average person spends approximately 73 minutes in public transit.
· 74% of people commute for over two hours every day.
· Hong Kong is the world’s most expensive place to buy a home by area.
· Only 24.3% of Hong Kong land is allowed for built-up area.
· Total city residential area including public and private is less than 4%; the rural settlement accounts for 3.2%.
· About two-thirds of the city’s 800,000 public housing rental flats are smaller than 430 sq ft.
· According to “Hong Kong 2030+” study, Hong Kong will face a land shortfall of at least 1,200 ha in the long run.
· The built-up land has remained almost at level in past decade and half, causing acute shortage of per-capita land. This is approximately 26000 ha.
· No new town development has happened in recent 10 years, after completion of Tung Chung in 1990’s
· The average wait to get a Public Rental Housing in Hong Kong is about 4.7 years now.
· The average size of private flats completed between 2018 and 2022 would be 681 sq ft, equivalent to five standard parking spaces – an 18 per cent slide from the average of 833 sq ft in the past decade.
With these types of alarming facts and figures, the design of city will definitely affect the existing culture. This is also true vice versa. Changing requirements and cultural habits will change the Design of the city.
Design Practices in Relation to the Culture and its appearance in Various Artifacts:
In regards to the phenomenon of Shrinking Kitchen in Hong Kong.
Kitchens in Hong Kong have been defined by and has a close knit relation with each of the 5 main artifacts of interest; namely Body, Space, Image, Object and Time. The Culture of Hong Kong is projected as a combination of each of these artifacts weaved together.
Kitchen and Body:
A popular feminist remark : “You start off your day by sinking into his arms and end it with your arms in his sink.”
Body is heart & soul of the kitchen
Human body is the ‘body’ of the kitchen. Human body is in direct relationship with the kitchen. Human body is the body that interacts with the kitchen area day in and day out. Without the human body there is no function of kitchen alone. To be able to utilize the kitchen, it is of prime importance to make it functional by a person. The human body is also getting consumed in the process of working in the kitchen.
If kitchen is a living body then human body is the heart and soul of the kitchen. The human body is synonymous with the heart which beats and allows the functioning of the entire kitchen. The way air and blood is necessary for the human body to function similarly food and fuel is necessary for the kitchen to function.
From a very different perspective, a kitchen is can also be personified as a ‘Body’.
Kitchen teaches humans
What does the kitchen do to a human body? It transforms unlearned human into a professional who is expert into kitchen activities. It matures a person as an individual. Kitchen teaches various sciences and practicalities of life. In kitchen person learns timekeeping, patience and humility. A person learns to be vigilant and manage working in an high risk environment. Kitchen makes a novice into a chef. When a person works in the kitchen then he or she is also responsible for the food that’s been prepared into the kitchen space. The person commands some respect out of the very fact that he or she prepares the food to match with the taste of the eaters. So, we see that the chef attains a kind of a political place or respect in the household.
Kitchen work is risky for human body
Some of the kitchen activities are dangerous since it requires to be constantly in and around fire, electricity and water. It means the body that is working in kitchen is also at high risk. In day-to-day activities in kitchen, there might be minor accidents which directly effects the person who works in there. This might include very minor cuts, bruises or sometimes even burns. Since the kitchen activities are constantly in and around heat source, the kitchen definitely affects the overall look and beauty of the person over the years who is working in there.
Kitchen may alter beauty
Most of the Hong Kong women and also some men are very conscious about their skin, looks and body. Since, kitchen activities involve excessive usage of water and other ingredients, it has a long term effect on skin. For people who are too conscious of their beauty, will not be willing to work in kitchen. Hence, most families seek help of domestic helpers or prefer getting food from outside. This act has an effect on usage of kitchen by the owners and its needed space. In a way, this also can lead to non-requirement of larger space of kitchen. It is a point to note that the same kitchen can also be used to prepare herbal concoctions and other ingredients(as mentioned in ayurveda) that can improve the beauty of skin, but this totally depends on the willingness and knowledge of people who use kitchen.
Kitchen & the Political body
From an external perspective the political body or the government decides the allotment of area for construction and hence is a major stakeholder in the current issue of shrinking sizes of hongkongers’ kitchens. If focus of builders and town planners is skewed towards providing a larger kitchen then scenarios in Hong Kong will change.
Kitchen and Image:
What is the imagery of a household Kitchen in Hong Kong? What would one think of when entering into a new home with a small kitchen in the corner? Is it expected to have a separate room or will the kitchen be an open working space? What happens when a lady realizes that the new house kitchen is smaller than the one she used to have before? Was she lured into buying the home by showing a realistic image or a simulated fake version of it? She will be shocked by reality. Was she aware of the actual square foot area that she would be working in? But she anyways needed her own home, for how long could she live her parents!
These are just a few thought provoking questions in the minds of the young couples or family moving into new home in Hong Kong. It is more likely that a new family moving to newer homes, might end up every year by year moving into a smaller living space. This is a proven fact about Hong Kong that per capita available space is decreasing. There will be less to use, and more to pay for.
As per John Baudrillard’s theories, it is evident that there is a lack of distinction between reality and simulacra. The contemporary media and marketing propagated by various property giants create an imagery of a premium lifestyle and force one into thinking of buying more value for the money that they shell out of their pockets. Advertising and publicity with aid of beautiful images and enhanced video effects are used to show Spaces. Sometime it is an illusion of space created by good lighting in wide-angle photography and at other times, it is also a sense of space created by use of smart design tools. Special effects with lights and smarter placement of mirrors are used to create an illusion of space in the ‘apartment image’ before selling the property. A dreamy and ideal image is presented to the buyer in Hong Kong, with view of nearby valleys and mountains, views with gardens and park in the society. Images for sale, presented in the Society’s sales catalogue are often edited or manipulated with, before it is printed. Sometimes buyers also get a ‘virtual tour’ of the apartment. Use of ‘Augmented reality’ and ‘virtual reality’ is also made to lure in possible customers. Availability of various other common resources which people can use are of more importance when presenting an apartment sale proposition. Not many maybe really aware that the kitchen of home which they are moving into is of a much smaller size.
Urbanization is clearly taking its toll on the people of Hong Kong. By every passing year, the ever growing ‘Hongkongers’ are forced to accept the diminishing available space.
Kitchen and Space:
While talking about the “Shrinking Kitchens of Hong Kong” it is explicitly implied that the notion of ‘space’ comes to play. Space is essential to carryout the activities but when it is shrinking, then the actions cannot be performed. Some of the surveys suggest that a few modern home dwellers in HongKong are satisfied to have just a ‘sink’ in their kitchen. Well, it might not be the case entirely, but definitely is suggestive of what type of future spaces we are getting towards with more number of nano-flats being made every year. Co-living places are developed as concept homes in Hong Kong. It has already started in commercial space where space is shared by more than 1 company. Some corporate offices share their pantry too. Office Pantry is the answer to them who do not have enough of kitchen space in their homes and often prepare lunches there. People in Hong Kong do prefer offices which has its own mini kitchen or a good pantry.
Kitchen is not a living room, bedroom or bathroom, where even if the space is slightly less, a person can adjust and manage to be. One can shower standing, and can sleep in a single bed or in a double decked bed. But it is absolutely unimaginable to cut vegetables without a worktop, or to clean utensils in bathroom washbasin. It is unimaginable to be able to cook on stove in living room or to prepare meat for marination in the bedroom.
Space is needed for kitchen.
Kitchen space is also a store. It needs to have essential storage for all items needed to make food. Even if a person wants to live with philosophy of ‘zen’ and reduce as much clutter of ‘objects’ from his life, need of food cannot be eliminated. And if food needs to be cooked, then there better be space for it.
Lived Space, Conceived Space and Perceived Space of a Hong Kong kitchen are not in sync with each other. The idea of complete kitchen space has become a dream for most of the ‘hongkongers’.
Kitchen is supposed to be a private space, as per perceived by families across all over the globe. While in Hong Kong, the line between private and public spaces has thinned a lot. Same is applied to the kitchen space. Architecture planning is suggestive of overlapping spaces of kitchen. Sometimes, by making an open kitchen in home, and at other times forcing people to eat out by making small kitchen and dining spaces in home.
Shrunken kitchens in home have allowed Hong Kong to evolve into a food paradise. Now, there are more restaurants than the city ever had. What should have been happening in a private space has now become a phenomenon in all sorts of social spaces. Hongkongers eating, drinking and even romancing outside their homes, in social restaurants, clubs, bars and pubs and even in open public spaces, are somewhere also related to ‘shrinking space’ which was meant to be inside home. New generation has to live in homes with often shared spaces with other family members.
Reproduction of kitchen space in city offered as ‘rented kitchen’, and emergence of Counterspaces as ‘shared pantries’ are new phenomenons. One of the entrepreneurs in Hong Kong has started her own rental kitchen business, offering people to rent it to cook and eat there. Her story is published in the local media. The weblink for same can be found below here.
Kitchen and Objects.
Where there is a kitchen, there will be numerous objects. An extensive Hong Kong style cuisine will need more objects for preparation for food. Kitchen applies ‘inertial constraints’ on people. It forces a person to go for buying one after the other objects, if the process of possessing has already started. A stove will need some utensils, and then the utensils will need accessories to use it. Thereafter, dishes, bowls and cutleries are needed. Once food is prepared, it needs to be stored in a fridge. If food is cold, it would need a microwave to re-heat. Then, a microwave would need specific types of microwaveable utensils.
Coffee lovers would want to have a coffee blender or a Nestle type coffee making machine. Heath conscious would like to have a juicer blender. Tea lovers want different tea-pots and water dispensers.
For a traditional Chinese cuisine a kitchen would need at least these few objects : a variety of cutting equipments including cleavers, boning knives, slicers, 1 or more cutting boards, a variety of woks in various shapes and sizes for various specific purposes, wok brush, multiple wok shovels, spatulas, a Chinese scoops strainer, different sizes of ladles, chopsticks that can be used for cooking and other ordinary purposes, a rice cooker or 2, a pressure cooker, multiple steaming baskets, often a bamboo steamer, a grater, spice and oil rack, a Chinese rolling pin, and then finally a set of utensils to transfer and serve food. This is yet not complete as eating plates, bowls and cutleries are yet to be added to the list.
Now the above is just a basic list of objects that can be needed in a traditional home. With hybrid lifestyles and modern culture adaptation, people do need more than just these. Kitchen furniture to match to their taste, worktops, cabinetry, shelves, drawers, appliances, various jars and containers, cleaning agents, chimney, exhaust, lightings, are all the part of ‘other objects’ that are required. And along with these there is a requirement of space to be able to hold them.
In the materialistic society of Hong Kong, shopping is a day to day norm. To possess and consume object is on an ever-time high. Every locality has their own shopping malls in vicinity, and every store is trying its best to sell. Kitchen equipments might not be parallel to fashion clothing as accessories, selling in almost every next shop. It is a niche category. One does not want to buy a kitchen equipment which will be cheap and risky, for these items are not bought regularly and need high standards of safety.
Hong Kong people are living a highly commodified lifestyle. But this commodification is more visible in their clothing and accessories, rather then more mundane things like kitchen objects. People might not also be willing to spend on objects, since there is not enough space to keep them.
Kitchen and Time relationship:
Preparing food, specially a local cuisine needs a lot of time.
Hong Kong is high in the list of countries clocking highest number of work hours. It is also the place in Asia where maximum about of overtime work is done, at times equalling to an extra day’s work. In Hong Kong, time is money and time is power. One who is master of time is rich and happy.
It is important to note that most of the people in Hong Kong work. Everyone is in a constant hurry. No one has enough time for even oneself. As far as eating is concerned, it is noted that now a lot of people do a walking breakfast, grabbing something handy at the nearby 7-eleven, circle-K, or any other morning store. This has led to a number of restaurants now opening in early hours, catering to these morning takeaway or dine-in customers. McDonalds, Subway, KFC, Fairwood, Maxims, Simplylife, Foodplace, Burger King, Pret a Manger are just a few common names in this category of fast food offering places.
When quick bite is available for just a few dollars, and at ease to suit to one’s taste buds, then why worry to cook at home?
As a fact, people spend more than an hour in commute every day, with most of them spending more than 2 hours commuting and another few minutes waiting in the queue to board. Average of about 1 km walk each way is take from and to home from the nearest commute station. Quite a number of commuters utilize this time in finishing their walking breakfast.
Hong Kong has one of the busiest airports of the world, and one of the busiest sea port. This means most of the people in hongkong are involved in some or the other business economic activity. So, they definitely end up with shortage of time by the end of the day.
Hongkongers also do not have enough time to learn new skills of cooking. So, they rather invest their time at work, since lifestyle in HK is very very demanding and competitive. Its is just apt to assume that people have less time at disposal, and hence they would not want to devote enough of it in their kitchens.
Conclusion:
At the end, it is very fair to say that Shrinking Kitchens of Hong Kong is not just a phenomenon, but a quick changing visible fact. It might soon affect the culinary culture of Hong Kong. If this continues and which it will as a matter of fact, then it will be soon a luxury to own a large 100 square feet kitchen in HK. Now, the new nano apartment sizes offered to buyers are dropping down to 125 sq ft, so where is space for kitchen in it? Hong Kong has to live with ‘Shrinking Kitchens’.