In Colonial America, the pioneers cooked over a fireplace in a corner of the cabin. The kitchen became a separate room only later. In the south, where the climate and sociological conditions differed, the kitchen was often relegated to an outbuilding, separate from the mansion, for much of the same reasons as in the feudal kitchen in medieval Europe: the kitchen was operated by slaves, and their working place had to be separated from the living area of the masters by the social standards of the time. Separate “summer kitchens” were also common on large farms in the north. These were used to prepare meals for harvest workers and tasks such as canning.
