Kitchen Cultures and Designs Around the World That Are Unusual and Amazing

When installing a new kitchen, not only is it important to consider what type of stone worktop you would like but also the type of food you will be preparing for your family and guests and the type of equipment you will need to make your meal preparation easy and perfect. Most cultures believe that the kitchen is the most important room in a home, not only where sustenance is prepared, but also where the family spends the most time together. It may be interesting to take a quick look at a variety of options that are available from different types of kitchens all over the world that are unusual, with some being downright amazing. After reading this article you may be inspired to incorporate some of these interesting ideas and equipment into your own custom-designed kitchen installation.

Japan

A good example of Japanese food preparation and customs can be found right here in London at the renowned Benihana Teppanyaki Restaurant situated near St. Paul’s. After being greeted with the customary bowing by the Japanese hosts, you are seated at a communal table and served green tea. At the centre of the communal table is a hotplate where the food will be prepared in full view of the diners. The chef appears wearing a tantô knife with a six-inch blade hanging from a scabbard on his belt, traditionally used in Japan for ritual suicides. He starts his food preparation performance by banging the knife on the grill, flipping a spatula, and making the sign of a cross in the air.

Italy

Italy is most famous for its pizzas which are now popular all around the world with five billion sold each year. Pizzas are cooked in special wood-burning pizza ovens made out of clay that is kept very hot. The prepared pizzas are placed on a long-handled wooden spatula and shoved deep into the open-front oven to bake very quickly until they are brown and the cheese topping has melted. When they are ready the chef removes them from the oven with the spatula and slides them directly onto customers’ plates. Apart from the popular Italian toppings of cheese and tomatoes, unusual and weird pizza toppings served in Australia include crocodile, emu, and kangaroo. In India, pizzas are topped with ginger, paneer, and mutton and in Sweden toppings include bananas, peanuts, chicken and pineapple.

India

In India, the kitchen is considered a sacred part of any home where wonderfully spiced food is prepared and served. India now boasts the largest solar kitchen in the world with 84 receivers that create phenomenal temperatures of up to 650 degrees when the sun is at its hottest. This amazing solar kitchen enables chefs to produce more than 38,000 meals per day.

Morocco

Many East African cultures like Morocco use cooking pits or earth ovens that are situated outside the home. These ancient and simple cooking structures are basic pits in the ground that trap enough heat to steam or bake food. A fire is built in the pit and left to smoulder. A covered dish with food is placed in the pit and covered with a layer of earth. The food is left for several hours to cook very slowly. This is a great way of reducing your carbon footprint.

China

In an average Chinese kitchen, you will find woks, roasting ovens, steamers, and stock pots. The most unusual Chinese kitchen is the Robot Restaurant Kitchen situated in Harbin. This kitchen with a difference is manned mainly by four robots that prepare meals from ready-stocked stores by the push of a button. The food is even served by server robots and a singing robot adds to the entertainment during the meal.

We hope you have been inspired by some of the more unusual features from cultures around the world that you may want to incorporate into your food preparation and kitchen design.