Bata House

The kukai kitchens

These buildings originally had a semi-spherical design and were built with clay. But through the years, as food production and storage became more important, the Bata houses evolved into bigger buildings which are mostly meant for food preservation. However, some Bata houses still keep the tradition of being the Kukai's kitchen, which gives purpose and meaning to one of the specializations in the Bat profession (cookers).

Purpose / Function

The main function of a Bata house is to store food in order to better preserve it. However, in more traditional villages, such as Oalmer or Amutikali, the Bata house may also work as a kitchen. Those Bat in charge of cooking and food preservation, are commonly seen outside these buildings when doing their job. This makes it easier for them to get the ingredients they want when cooking. Because of this, the Bata house is also a gathering point for those kukai (also of the Bat profession) in charge of the morning food distribution.

Architecture

The main materials for a Bata house are either clay or limestone, sometimes even both. They are usually built in a square or rectangular shape, though some may have a semi-spherical design; the latter are mostly meant for storage only and are more common in traditional villages, specially Oalmer.
A big Bata house is commonly equipped with a comal (hotplate/griddle), an oven and a fireplace or two, in order to cook with different sizes of (clay) casseroles. Some of these may be put or built in the outer side of a Bata house, which allows for cooking tables to be used inside the building.

Alternative Names

Kukai kitchen, food warehouse, Bata workplace

Type

Warehouse / Granary

Owning Organization

Followers of Oal-Mer