[Stoves] Sun Buckets: off topic news, introduction (David Stein, Ron, et al. )

David Stein ambwat at gmail.com
Mon Jan 9 18:04:29 CST 2017


Hi Nikhil,

Don't worry, the secret of our first encounter is safe with me.

Yes, it seems that cooking, clean or otherwise, is all about stored
chemical energy.

In rural Vanuatu and in rural parts of other Pacific Island Countries
(PICs) cooking is largely done on with biomass in "3 stone fires."  That
is, if cooking is done at all.  Most traditional foods (like laplap and/or
bunia) are baked in an earth oven (a "hole" in the ground in which a
biomass fire is built which is used to heat stones.  In turn, the hot
stones are used to bake the food which is usually wrapped in leaves.)
However, cooking is replacing baking as the preferred method of preparing
food because baking is a rather elaborate endeavor.  But some cooks,
particularly in rural areas,  prefer the traditional method because:

   1. it is traditional (baking is how we locals do it, cooking is how
   white folks do it}
   2. with baking there are no dishes to wash or pots to scrub (ya gotta
   love leaves...which are grown in most gardens and called "lif laplap")
   3. it is perceived to be "free" (as you can probably see, the cash
   economy is relatively new there...when I first got there in the mid-90s it
   was brand new in the rural areas (virtually non-existent) and while it
   certainly exists now, it is still rather new.  Now, after 20 years, I live
   back in the good ol' US...a place that has a lot of experience with the
   cash economy but in many other ways seems rather ass backwards.  As you can
   probably see, I'm having a few re-adjustment issues.)

Cooking is the preferred method of preparing food in urban areas because:

   1. life is more westernized there
   2. many people are employed and therefore do not have the discretionary
   time needed to bake in the traditional way

And rice is replacing traditional carbs (like yams, wild yams, manioc, and
kumala) because:

   1. rice is faster (and therefore uses less fuel) than traditional carbs.
   2. rice is easier to prepare (no harvesting, limited cleaning, no
   peeling) than traditional carbs.
   3. rice is tastier (according to a lot of young people) than traditional
   carbs.

But it must be purchased, generally with money.

In 2011 I was instrumental in introducing the concept of clean cooking and
clean--ish cookstoves to Vanuatu   I was more successful in or near the
urban areas than the rural areas because:

   1. discretionary money is more available in or near the urban areas
   2. financing is more available in or near the urban areas (I did this in
   concert with a local MFI)

I suspect there will greater uptake of clean cooking technology in the
rural areas when there are more financing options (particularly installment
purchasing) there.

Also (and as Nikhil suggested) there are at least 2 economies in
Vanuatu...those that purchase their groceries and other imported items from
the store (mostly expats and other urban dwellers) and those that don't
(mostly rural people)  Things like salt were traditionally harvested from
tide pools but are now imported and available for purchase at stores.
Things like canned (called tinned in the Pacific) sardines, pasta, and rice
were traditionally not consumed but are now imported and available for
purchase at stores

Apologies to those who now know way more about kakae (food) and its
preparation in Vanuatu than they ever wanted to know.

And amen to the part about stoves being for cooking food and beverages or
heating air/water and not for running lab tests.

Cheers,

David
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