INTRODUCTION

If inanimate objects can indeed tell tales of the past, then this digital tour of the material culture related to the Cypriot kitchen of the recent past can be perceived as a synthesis of the daily life of rural populations on Cyprus, which reveals their habitual practices and needs, as well as their way of thinking and living as evidenced through the arrangement and function of the household. The installations and artefacts presented in this exhibition were widely used by the majority of the Cypriot rural populations in the recent past (19th-20th century). Through their forms and functions, these objects vividly illustrate the living conditions of the populace residing in the countryside, whose survival depended to a great extent on small-scale agriculture and farming. Due to the scarcity of financial and by extension material means, the rural society of Cyprus sought self-sufficiency at least in covering its basic needs, a tendency that is reflected in the household kitchen.

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The exhibits of the present digital exhibition provide answer to basic questions concerning the types of goods consumed, the techniques and implements utilised for food preparation, the modes of food consumption and storage, as well as the form of the installations found in the maerkon (kitchen) as a vital area of the rural home. In order to better organize the information collected during the examination of these object, it was deemed necessary to classify them into the following four categories.