Easy Bake Oven: The Joy Of Cooking With A Light Bulb

By | August 4, 2020

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Pachaging for a 1960s Easy Bake Oven. Source: Flickr

In 1963, the light-bulb-powered Easy Bake Oven by Kenner arrived in stores, a thrilling development for young girls. The gender roles were set in stone, and the cultural guidance in those days was clear: You will grow up, get married, have children, and cook wonderful meals for your hard-working husband and 2.5 children. A miniature oven that cooked edible food was in these times as appealing for girls as a toolbox with real power tools would have been for boys. This was real cooking, this was grown-up real life stuff. Though its aesthetics would change with the times, this phenomenally popular product would survive with the same essential mechanism for 40 years.

Kenner Did Not Invent The Toy Oven Concept

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A toy oven before the Easy Bake Oven. Source: Chemung County Historical Society)

Toy cook stoves have existed since at least the 1800s, heated with wood pellets or coal. In the 1920s, child-sized enamel stoves appeared, with the ability to reach 500 degrees. In Little Men published in 1871, the sequel to Little Women, Jo gives her niece a toy kitchen with a stove that actually cooked. These early toy stoves posed real dangers to children. In the 1920s, child-sized enamel stoves appeared, with the ability to reach 500 degrees.

The appeal for young girls of cooking on a real stove was clear; the mess and danger of cooking with real fire was a problem. If only someone could come up with a way to heat the food without putting coal and flames in the hands of the prepubescent chefs...