July 14, 2004

"The Big American Fridge"

The Guardian has a feature posted today about the increasing UK popularity of what they call "The Big American Fridge."

Which raises a number of questions, including whether UK and U.S. food preparation habits are really so very divergent any more; what counts as "big" in this writer's mind; whether my fridge is "big" by the said standard; and in fact what general mental picture a Guardian editor (or, for that matter, Telegraph reader) is likely to form of a typical U.S. household's amenities. Are UK cultural commentators just tempted to think that everyone in the U.S. lives like the people on our television programs? Or do we really still live larger over here?

Posted by Martha Bridegam at July 14, 2004 06:18 PM
Comments

When I lived in Britain, my flat had the sort of fridge a hotel has for a minibar-- one of those half-sized sort of models. Friends who tended to have a shared house (or a good income) had a full-sized fridge, but those were the only ones I knew. It made food storage remarkably challenging. That said, I now live in an apartment with a full sized fridge that I often only use about 10% of (mostly the freezer), which I'm sure adversely affects my hydro bills.

I also missed North American washing machines, which were, again, far less energy efficient but bigger!

Posted by: Graeme Burk at July 14, 2004 08:56 PM

Graeme, can I use the remaining 90 per cent of your fridge please?

Posted by: Alan Allport at July 15, 2004 04:53 AM

"We know that air conditioning makes us feel bad, but we're quite happy to imprison our produce in that environment."

Here is someone who has never lived in Houston.

Posted by: Ben Brumfield at July 15, 2004 08:13 AM

I see a new market in fridge real estate is coming into being.

Posted by: Alan Hogue at July 15, 2004 02:13 PM

Better organize a new market in long-distance cold-pack delivery while you're at it.

Not such a bad idea, though, refrigerator sharing: if there was a market for the space maybe I'd finally throw out the near-empty bottle of Indian lime pickles with the 1995 expiration date and J. would throw out his jarful of elderly daikon kimchi.

Posted by: Martha Bridegam at July 15, 2004 05:28 PM