Bread cabinet
A bread cupboard (also bread cupboard, brodköthe, bread locker, bread cupboard) is a piece of kitchen furniture from the 18th to 20th centuries, with the first being made much earlier. From the area north of the Wiehengebirge , two bread cupboards with doors on top of each other from around 1400 are known.
Condition and function
Bread cupboards were used to store bread, which in rural areas was usually only baked once a week . These are cabinets that are subdivided with large compartments or drawers and doors. For proper storage of the bread, air holes covered with perforated sheets and grids are built into the doors. But the bread cupboard was also used early on to store other food or everyday items.
literature
- Economic Encyclopedia by D. Johann Georg Krünitz, 1858
- Grammatical-critical dictionary of the High German dialect by Johann Christoph Adelung, Dietrich Wilhelm Soltau, Franz Xaver Schönberger, 1808
Idioms
Several German expressions deal with the bread cupboard. This includes " He grew up between the bread cupboard and the whey chamber ", which was often used for stout people and the saying " You should think beyond your bread cupboard " means that there are other things than just your physical well-being to think.