Karin's Adventures

Without warning our refrigerator in the kitchen quit working. I noticed it Sunday morning, when I started preparing breakfast. The incident, while not a tragedy, forced me to think about a commonplace appliance that I usually don't waste a thought on.

I remembered hearing about a recent study that revealed one unexpected possible reason for the obesity epidemic in the US: Barry Popkin, a professor in the school of public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, notes that the growing scale of home appliances enables families to stockpile convenience foods that minimize their time in the kitchen. The trend breads a culture of excess in which we buy more, eat more, and waste more, than ever before.

My refrigerator in Germany was huge, for German standards: 12 ft.³
My parents have a more reasonable one in their house: 7 ft.³ is considered a normal size for two people in Germany. The one that we just bought is the same size that we had: 21.7 ft.³ which is the current average in the US.

Just for a little while, until the new refrigerator is delivered, I'll have to exercise modesty and see how much food can be stored in the 4.4 ft.³ that we have in our bar in the basement.