Then & Now | In Hong Kong, the humble refrigerator was once a status symbol
- Large fridges took pride of place in living rooms across the city and were kept as polished as any piece of heirloom furniture
- Domestic refrigeration also accelerated cross-cultural dietary change
From the late 19th century, reliable, inexpensive, year-round refrigeration and cold storage completely transformed the world. Perishable goods could be transported further and kept for longer, which in turn reduced their cost and enhanced availability. Seasonality was prolonged and cross-cultural dietary change dramatically accelerated.
Closely connected to this transformation was the rise of domestic refrigeration. The humble fridge, now taken for granted in homes all over the world, was once a coveted, highly priced status symbol.
For decades, a large Frigidaire or other (preferably American) brand enjoyed local snob value, taking pride of place in the living room. Like other manufactured goods, such things were regarded as almost a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, and were kept as well-polished as any piece of heirloom furniture.
In the post-war years, for newcomers to Hong Kong – and other parts of the region – the seemingly incongruous sight of a massive, gleaming American refrigerator humming away in the sitting-room corner, often garnished with a crocheted cover and a vase of artificial flowers on the top, was yet another aspect of local life that took some getting used to and then, eventually, became too commonplace for comment.
Such arrangements were particularly obvious in Chinese, local Portuguese, Eurasian and Indian households; as a general rule, Europeans tended not to keep the fridge in the living room, unless there was simply no space in the kitchen. Among this demographic, other electrical goods – the latest radiogram, in particular – were more highly sought after as displays of status than an oversized refrigerator.
Until relatively recent times, most Hong Kong kitchens were basic, workaday places where charcoal or kerosene smoke, grease and cooking fumes were the norm – and many remain so. In such an environment, a streamlined, American-style fridge, with polished chrome details, would quickly become discoloured, and risked being chipped or stained.
In the days before widespread use of plastics and aluminium, steel-framed, zinc-lined refrigerators were also heavy – once these items were in place, they were almost never moved again. Into the 1950s, some households kept both an old-fashioned, zinc-lined icebox in the kitchen, for storage of daily-use perishables, and the electric-powered status symbol in the living room.