Utensil:Chrome Plate Outdoor Barbecue Tools by Androck

The Washburn Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, jumped on the barbecue bandwagon when it introduced this set of "tools for outdoor cooking" in the 1950s. With a "hamburger turner" (not a spatula), "deep ladle," "bar-b-q fork," "slicing knife," "extension fork," and "steak broiler," this set included everything necessary to equip the happy chef depicted on the package. Though the word "barbecue" has existed for hundreds of years, it was first used to refer to cooking outdoors over an open fire in a 1947 Sunset magazine article glamorizing suburban life in California. Typifying an ideal suburban activity of the 1950s, barbecuing conjured romantic images of freedom and Western life on the range, comfortably transferred to the backyard. The outdoor barbecue became part of the typically male domain, as popular magazines encouraged dads to help out with the cooking by preparing meals outdoors. The barbecue also suggested a new kind of entertaining for suburban families. Gone were the formal sit-down dinners of the pre-war years: suburbanites of the 1950s favored casual outdoor dining, with the neighborhood "king of the coals" presiding.