The work follows the transformation of the act of eating and the ritual of eating, through the impact of new technologies and of the socio-economic and political changes. Starts with the rural kitchens, which inherits from colonial times amplitude and self-reliance, its dynamics of operation that involves several people (and eventually animals) for food production. Then, an account of the consequences of prosperity brought by the cultivation of coffee and sugar cane, favoring the genesis of the industry and urban development in the homes of the State of São Paulo. In the period between wars the appliances gain space and introduces the mechanization of the kitchen, and as a result, the slow decrease of dependence on domestic employs. The author also discusses the American influence at that time and at the end of the book, the evolution now of the "smart" kitchen and the recent "gourmet phenomenon" expressed in the architecture of these dependencies.