"The communal kitchen is the beating heart of a houseshare. In the sitcom Friends, it's where Monica gets a turkey stuck on her head; in New Girl, it's where Nick repeatedly fixes the kitchen sink whenever he's going through stuff. It's the natural place for drunken deep and meaningful chats, first kisses and epic fallouts. It's also where many people discover how truly disgusting having housemates can be."
"Shared living is a real melting pot of practices and habits and people exposing each other to risks in different ways usually in a space with little ventilation, says Dr David Megson, a reader in chemistry and environmental forensics at Manchester Metropolitan University. Dr Alison Cottell, a microbiologist lecturing at the University of Surrey, agrees that life in a shared kitchen is about weighing up the risks."
The communal kitchen functions as the social and practical centre of a houseshare, hosting moments of bonding and conflict while exposing residents to one another's habits. Flat-sharing has increased, with SpareRoom data showing searches tripled from 2013 to 2023 and 11.5% of sharers over 40. Shared living mixes diverse practices and can expose people to biological risks, often in poorly ventilated spaces. Microbiological risk is ubiquitous but varies by behaviour; everyday contact with bacteria is normal, yet avoiding the spread of higher-risk organisms requires conscious hygiene choices and negotiated household norms.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]