[Stoves] Why is it still so difficult to design, cookstoves for 3 billion people?

[Xavier Brandao]

Dear Anil,

I am often surprised on how many restaurants and roadside eateries can 
be found in India. And people eat there in a daily basis, much more than 
in France or Europe.

Restaurants can be a help for both the IAP and malnutrition problems. 
The South Indian "thali", or meal, served for lunch only, is actually 
quite varied. But on the other hand, fried food, like vadas, parotas, 
fried rice, fried snacks, plus the very sweetened chai teas are not 
really contributing to a healthy diet.
It's difficult to change the food habits of people. It will take time 
and education.

I was reading an article from an IT startup founder, who turned down an 
investment of 500K in his company. He decided to pull the plug, and stop 
his startup. He saw that it was way to difficult to have his customers 
use his product, and that would soon impact sales. He said that he was 
going against "human nature", and he knew he would lose the fight.
I found both the move courageous, and his finding interesting. Most of 
the products are using human nature to be sold or used.
I guess this is what I wanted to say in my post. If the new solution is 
both compelling, cheap, and easy to use, then only, it is possible it 
will be adopted.

Like when tea was first introduced in India, when cafe was first 
introduced, when soft drinks, when beers were introduced.
Easy to drink beverages! No brainer.

Best,

Xavier


On 6/17/16 11:30 PM, stoves-request at lists.bioenergylists.org wrote:
> For general discussion on cooking please see
> www.nariphaltan.org/ruralrestaurants.pdf


-- 
Xavier Brandao
COO

Prakti
T  +91 413 262 34 37
M  +91 997 610 69 21
S  x.brandao
Wwww.praktidesign.com
A  Spirit Sense, Old Auroville Rd,
    605 104, Bommiyarpalayam, Tamil Nadu
    INDIA

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