PO Journal: Kitchen

JZZP，2026 Softcover, 21x13.5 cm, 273 pages The kitchen is a particular kind of place. Our interest in it began with Banana Yoshimoto’s novel Kitchen. Its protagonist says that the kitchen is her favorite place in the world. Even when there are scraps of food and traces of grease, the presence of a refrigerator full of food, and the low hum it makes, can offer a sense of comfort. But the kitchen is more than a place where food appears. As a social space, it is connected to labor, memory, care, technology, politics, and the wider food system. Community kitchens in the UK connect local farmers with questions of food poverty and food justice. Discussions around animal welfare can begin with Mongolian traditions of “white foods” and extend toward contemporary debates around animal and plant-based milk. PO Journal: Kitchen begins by imagining the kitchen as a field of inquiry. How do people around the world use kitchens? How has the kitchen changed across time? Is the kitchen political? What happens there besides cooking? And why do we care so much about keeping it clean? Across five chapters and twenty essays, interviews, conversations, and artistic contributions, the issue approaches the kitchen from different places, histories, and perspectives. Ultimately, beyond busyness, anxiety, and sadness, we hope the kitchen can remain a place we return to, again and again, to recover a little energy for living.