127 728
ediciones
Cambios
m
<div class="mw-translate-fuzzy">__TOC__
Texto reemplazado: «<sup>th</sup> century» por «th century»
<languages></languages>
== The hearth ==
The concept of the hearth being at the centre of the life of the household is captured in this sentence from the end of the 16<sup>th</sup> 16th century: ''Subako etxea, gorputz odol bagea'' (A house without a hearth is like a body without blood).
The hearth has been at the heart of home life right down to the present and was where the food was prepared. Yet this domestic heat source has evolved which has in turn affected the way of preparing and processing food.
This low stove, standing against one of the house’s load-bearing walls, was more common. In those cases, the smoke was funnelled through a range hood, which was also against the wall, up through a flue or chimney up through the roof.
Until the early 20<sup>th</sup> 20th century, in the rural areas and even in towns, the meals were prepared on or next to the hearth or low stove: ''besu'' (Zeanuri-B), ''supazter'' (Iholdi-Ip), ''behekosu'' (Ezkio-G) or ''fuego de suelo [''ground hearth] (Arráyoz-N).
An important element of this stove for preparing the food was the ''llar [''fireplace hanger], ''lahatz'' (Ispoure-Ip), ''laratzu'' (Zeanuri-B), ''elatz'' (ElosuaBergara-G), ''labatz'' (Ezkurra-N), consisting of a large chain ending in a hook hanging down from a cross bar inside the flue. The height over the fire was adjusted using the links of the chain and the hooks in the last section, which anchored the system in place. The cauldrons, ''galdailla, maskillu ''(Zeanuri-B), ''hertz haundia ''(Ispoure-Ip), were hung from the ''llar.''
A charcoal cooker, in different forms, was also used for kitchen duties in addition to the hearth. That cooks was called ''sutxiki'' in Bermeo (B). Its use was very widespread until cost-efficient stoves were introduced.
From the third decade of the 20th century, this ground hearth, ''bekosua'', began to be replaced in most homes by the cost-efficient stoves, popularly known as the ''chapa'' or ''txapa ''[the metal sheet]. Fuelled by wood, charcoal, ''egur-ikatza, ''or coal, ''((h)arri-ikatza), ''it meant fuel savings and was much easier to control the heat when cooking. They came with a small oven. Both systems were used side-by-side in many farmhouses for several decades.
From the 1960s onwards, cooking on those fireplace hearths began to fall into disuse with the spread of new fuels and energy systems, such as gas and electricity.
Nowadays, thanks to the development of the food trade, to the proliferation of prepared and frozen food and to the widespread use of refrigerators and freezers at home, we are witnessing a shift towards a greater standardisation of eating habits regardless of the way of life.
{{DISPLAYTITLE: X. PREPARING THE MEALS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD}} {{#bookTitle:Family Diet in the Basque Country|Alimentacion_domestica_en_vasconia/en}}</div>
