Solar cookers - a culinary masterclass

In addition to the biomass stoves that REDES build as part of their housing projects they also recently started distributing solar cookers to rural communities. There is enormous potential for them here because of the abundant sunshine that El Salvador is lucky enough to have - there have only been two cloudy days in the six weeks I've been here (although there are daily afternoon thunderstorms) and this is supposed to be the rainy season! When we heard that REDES had a solar cooker project we were obviously really interested in finding out more - after all it offers an alternative to all of the improved wood burning stove designs that we're considering.

Our plan for the next two weeks in the communities with REDES stoves near Berlin and San Sebastian has become progressively more complicated - we now plan to interview 10-15 women every other day and invite them to a hands-on demonstration of both the Rocket stove and the solar cooker the following day when we'll ask them more questions about the two alternatives. During our time in Suchitoto we had already received training from the CRC in the use of the Rocket stove, so Monday morning saw us huddled around a rather dull-looking cardboard box in the garden with Franco who's in charge of the project.


The system proved to be incredibly simple to use - an aluminium foil-coated cardboard reflector quickly folds out to produce a quasi-parabolic solar concentrator. The box also holds a large refractive-glass casserole dish and a black pewter bowl which fits inside it snuggly. You stick your food in the black bowl, put that in the casserole dish with a lid on and leave it at the focus of the cooker for an hour or so. Easy!


The thing was that Franco was determined to show off the full potential of the solar cooker so instead of doing something boring like boiling water he produced an eski full of frozen Tilapia and ushered us into the kitchen to cook lunch. Parsley, corriander, garlic, spring onion and tomatoes were dutifully chopped, along with some leaves that he plucked off a weedy bush in the garden, all mixed up together and stuffed into the fish with a squeeze of fresh lime and pinch of salt. The lid went on and we moved on to dessert - chopped plaintain with a sprinkle of sugar and a couple of crushed cinamon sticks.

While our lunch was cooking Franco gave us the presentation that he does for training - an excellent participatory session that got us to identify the advantages of the solar cooker and also what meals it can or can't cook, along with a few pointers for maintenance. Many of the advantages are environmental and related to the reduction in firewood use - less deforestation, air pollution, global warming, stable rainfall patterns, improved soil fertility, protects biodiversity etc. There are also significant health benefits - reduced smoke inhalation prevents respiratory illnesses, less likely to burn oneself cooking and food is steamed rather than fried resulting in better nutrition. Less obviously it could also help to reduce the violent confrontations and sexual abuse of women that can occur when they wander into other people's land in search of scarce firewood.

Nevertheless it's no golden bullet - for a start the cost will prevent widespread use as the Mexican website selling them (http://www.ollasolar.com.mx/olla_solar.php) charges $690 each. REDES has a policy of always requiring some contribution towards the projects it runs from the beneficiaries, preferrably in the form of unskilled labour during the construction phase. This is very important as it helps to foster a sense of ownership over whats built, encouraging families to maintain them and helps to explain the benefits and problems of the technology, all of which help to ensure that the projects are ultimately succesful. Unfortunately this cannot be done with the solar cookers, so instead families are required to contribute $30 for the cookers - a significant sum of money in many rural comunities.

Perhaps a more serious problem is the total cultural change required in using the cookers - a very slow form of cooking which requires careful attention to timing as removing the lid too early to taste the food releases all of the stored heat and delays the meal by an hour or so! Although the elimination of oil for frying has great health advantages it does change the taste and texture of food which could hinder the adoption of the solar cooker. On the upside the pot is heated quite evenly from all sides and the trapped steam makes it impossible to burn food. The cardboard reflector also requires some care to ensure it doesn't get damp and delaminate, both from spillages while cooking and when stored. On balance I think its fair to say that there is huge potential for this project, but it will never totally replace biomass stoves - not least because there's no sun to cook breakfast with! However it does complement the use of an improved wood-burning stove and we hope to spend our last week of fieldwork visiting one of the first communities to receive solar cookers from REDES to make a direct comparison with their other stove projects.