[Stoves] News: Cooking up at the White House

Mon Oct 31 15:30:02 CDT 2016

Does anybody else on this Stoves list care about GACC and EPA, or am I the
only one? Please let me know, onlist or offlist.

GACC sent out a news item today - The Alliance joins Chef José Andrés at
the White House for #SXSL
<http://cleancookstoves.org/about/news/10-03-2016-the-alliance-joins-chef-jos-andr-s-at-the-white-house-for-sxsl.html>,
a 3 October cookout at the White House South Lawn. POTUS and Chef Jose
Anders, Cooking Ambassador for GACC, sent out tweets. Attendant celebritis,
other than GACC CEO, Obama, and Andrers, were Leonard DeCaprio  "Senior
Advisor to President Barak Obama Valerie Jarrett, White House Pastry Chef
Susan Morrison, and Adam Savage of Mythbusters."

Hmm.. GACC needs some mythbusters, no? :-) A savage mythbuster.

I wonder if Hillary, Michelle, Gina McCarthy or Kathy Calvin showed up. The
Kaine-Pence debate was the next night. Or that these women don't want to be
seen as associated with cooking. Mrs. Clinton does not bake cookies, we
know.

It is so exciting to read -

"Chef Andres, founder of ThinkFoodGroup and Alliance Global Ambassdor,
together with Alliance CEO Radha Muthiah and chefs from across the
Washington, DC, region, engaged with attendees and journalists in
conversation about clean cookstoves through live demonstrations to show the
benefits of clean cookstoves and fuels. Visitors to the demonstration area
included Senior Advisor to President Barak Obama Valerie Jarrett, White
House Pastry Chef Susan Morrison, and Adam Savage of Mythbusters."

"Nine different types of clean cookstoves were placed around the White
House South Lawn to demonstrate the capabilities of clean cookstoves and
fuels. The stoves included solar powered stoves from GoSunStoves and
OneEarthDesigns, and ethanol stove from CleanCook, and solid-fuel burning
stoves from Biolite, Burn, and MimiMoto."

This could be a game changer, like the Delhi Imperial Hotel event. Or it
may be the same game over and over again - fine-wine-dine-and-shine party
of the pompous.

Chef Jose Andres' one local restaurant got 2 1/2 star review in Washington
Post on 13th October: *Z*aytinya review: Middle Eastern small plates for
everyone
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/zaytinya-review-middle-eastern-small-plates-for-everyone/2016/10/12/fb0230ee-8ff2-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html>.
 His other restaurant, Minibar
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/minibar-review-simply-put-theres-still-nothing-else-like-it/2015/10/01/c7ab4228-6887-11e5-9ef3-fde182507eac_story.html>
got four stars, the highest. A dinner there is $275 per person before
alcohol.

Chef Andres has been an active promoter - writing a Letter to Editor,,
Washington Post - A recipe for better cooking and heating
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-recipe-for-better-cooking-and-heating/2015/11/03/f57e0e70-80dc-11e5-8bd2-680fff868306_story.html>
(3
Nov 2015) in response to an opinion piece by Marc Gunther two days earlier
- These cheap, clean stoves were supposed to save millions of lives. What
happened?
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/these-cheap-clean-stoves-were-supposed-to-save-millions-of-lives-what-happened/2015/10/29/c0b98f38-77fa-11e5-a958-d889faf561dc_story.html>
Washingtno
Post 1 November 2015. He wrote a White House blog by invitation - A Cooking
Revolution: How Clean Energy and Cookstoves Are Saving Lives
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/06/07/cooking-revolution-how-clean-energy-and-cookstoves-are-saving-lives>
(7
June 2016). He has a nine restaurant empire in Washington area and is going
to start another one at a sports stadium in the center of the city - Jose
Andres brings test kitchen to Verizon Center main concourse
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2016/10/14/jose-andres-brings-test-kitchen-to-verizon-center-main-concourse/>
(16
June 2016). He will offer "composed bowls".

Chef Andres' recipe is,

"I disagree that efficient biomass stoves don’t make a difference in
people’s lives.

It would be ideal to have every cookstove in the world running on
electricity or gas, but that’s not possible. My organization, World Central
Kitchen, has been working for several years in the village of Palmiste
Tempe, Haiti, to improve lives and introduce healthier ways of cooking. It
takes four hours to reach this community via steep, remote roads. Because
there is no way to get electricity or gas to this village in the near
future, we are providing more efficient stoves that burn less charcoal and
wood. Women have told me that they are happier and healthier today because
of these new stoves.

I hear these stories in my travels around the world. As an entrepreneur, I
know success doesn’t come without many trials. Whether it’s technology,
restaurants or development, the road to “best” travels through the path of
“better.” While organizations such as the alliance and its partners make
real, life-changing progress toward eliminating dangerous cookstoves, an
issue that affects nearly 3 billion people, there is no reason to let the
perfect be the enemy of the good."

Amen. Seems to me at last the solid fuel cooking and heating revolution for
the poor may start. If it takes GACC and the White House, there will be
money. How to spend the money right is a serious problem.

He also praised Indian LPG program, going on for some 50 years now, in his
blog:

"That’s powerful, people! Mothers can be healthier. Young girls have more
time to go to school. Forests grow again. People can feed themselves
without risking their lives to cook a meal.

That’s what we can accomplish by providing clean cookstoves and fuels. And
that’s a simple act that can change the world for years and years to come."

It's not a simple act, Jose. There are roughly 40 million children born
every year among the world's poor ("bottom of the pyramid"), and most of
them will not see clean cooking while they reach youth age (15).
Cumulatively, there will be 600 million such children over these 15 years.
These families will have some 10 quadrillion meals over this period,
assuming they cook at home.

Further assuming some mortality and disability, we are talking about some
3+ billion DALYs and  at current rate some 50 million "premature deaths"
due to household air pollution. Many girls in this group will not finish
high school and will be married by the age 15, will be nutrition-deficient
and their children will suffer similar fate over the next 50 years
(assuming term pregnancies from age 15 to 35).

Is GACC ready to sell 200 million "safe, reliable, efficient, clean,
usable" biomass stoves in the next 10 years, with a reasonable expectation
that the cook will buy another stove of similar kind in two years, and the
"stacking" for different types of cooking will be of "clean cooking and
heating" type only?
-------------------

Did anybody measure PM2.5 on the South Lawn that evening? I am predicting
one pre-mature mortality.

If a challenge cannot be met, it's useful to recognize such, not have
parties on the South Lawn. I will write about Haiti and World Central
Kitchen some other time.

Nikhil

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(US +1) 202-568-5831
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