The Importance of the Kitchen Table

Across the Fence #546

The kitchen table was the central point of the family universe in almost every home. It was the heartbeat of a family. Think of the importance that simple kitchen table played in your life. Think of all the activities that took place around it. It wasn’t just a place to eat your meals; it was where news was shared, where you talked about what was going on in the world and in your lives, where the day’s activities were discussed, and yes, where arguments sometimes took place.

The thing that put this story idea about kitchen tables in my mind, was a video I watched on the Internet. It showed a family sitting around a table and eating. I should say; the mother and father were eating. The two teenage children were checking their cell phones, busy receiving and sending text messages. The father couldn’t get their attention to pass the salt. The next scene shows the father sitting at the table with an old-fashioned typewriter in front of him. He’s busy pounding away at the keys and hitting the return bar. It makes a lot of noise, as anyone who’s used a typewriter knows. The two kids look at their father like he has gone nuts. ”What are you doing?” He doesn’t answer. He keeps pounding the keys. Suddenly a light bulb seems to go on for the kids. They both take their cell phones and put them in their pockets. The father then asks once more, “Could you please pass the salt?” They pass the salt and everyone resumes eating. How many households can say, ”That’s mealtime in our home.” I guess times have changed. We didn’t have cell phones when we were young, or we would probably have been on them too. We also didn’t have a TV to distract us during mealtime. We did have a radio, but I don’t remember it being on while we ate, unless Dad was trying to hear what the weather forecast was for the next few days. Was it safe to cut hay or was it going to rain?

The kitchen table. Ma, Janet, Dad, Linda, Frank Servais.

Three meals a day were eaten at that simple kitchen table. There were seven of us most of the time, Ma, Dad, Grandma Inga, who lived with us, David, Janet, Arden, and me. During the summers when I was young, Cousin Sandy also lived with us. The table wasn’t very big, but it never felt crowded. Ours wasn’t fancy. It was functional. It was oval-shaped and had a Formica top. The legs were round, stainless steel, tapered at the bottom. It was often covered with an oil cloth that could be easily wiped clean. So many family gathering photos we have, were taken with people sitting around the table, eating, drinking coffee, and visiting. It’s where we sat and did our homework. We didn‘t have individual rooms where we could go, shut the door, and sit at a desk. David, Arden, and I shared a bedroom upstairs. In the summer it was beastly hot and in the winter it was cold enough to have a thick coat of frost on the windows. It wasn’t a good place to sit and do homework. The kitchen table next to the wood-burning kitchen stove was much more comfortable.

We played card games like Whist and Dirty Clubs at the kitchen table, especially when company came. It was a great place to lay out the pieces of a picture puzzle and try to put it together, but you had to work fast because the table would be needed for the next meal. New Years Eve saw some marathon Monopoly games played there as we tried to stay awake to see the New Year arrive. Over the years many birthday cakes took center stage on that table as we turned another year older. During the “pesky” fly season, a curled fly strip hung over the center of that kitchen table. We thought nothing of it. I think most farm kitchens had fly strips as summer accessories. Better to have them stuck to the strip than walking through your food. That kitchen table was usually piled full of wonderful things to eat. During big family gatherings, the men would dish up a plateful and go in the living room where the lucky ones would sit at a card table and the rest would balance the plate in their lap while they ate. Conversation continued as they ate. The children would sit on the floor or go outside and sit at the picnic table or on the ground in the summertime. The women would sit at the kitchen table, where conversations would continue.

The advent of television changed the dynamics around the kitchen table. Instead of conversations, people started watching sports events as they ate. How many Thanksgiving dinners are now sandwiched around a football game?

I still like the use of a kitchen table as a place to sit and visit when company arrives. It’s a place for a cup of coffee, something to eat, and good conversation shared among family or friends, uninterrupted by electronic gadgets. That’s what kitchen tables are for. The next time you sit down at your kitchen table, think of the many things that have taken place around yours, and the importance that simple table has played in your life.

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