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Kitchens Systems in Developing Countries by Stephen Joseph
The first thing that has always struck me is that each kitchen is very individual, and that there are great differences between kitchens in different parts of the world. For example, in one village in Nepal I found that some kitchens were very small and situated in the middle of the bottom floor; whereas other kitchens were very large and situated on the third floor. The small kitchens usually had little ventilation and poor light; whereas the larger kitchens were usually very open and had good ventilation. It was generally the wealthier people who had the larger kitchens, although it also depended on the particular ethnic group. Some ethnic groups in Nepal actually change kitchens from one season to the next, one of the kitchens being situated on the top floor in a big airy room (used in summer time) and the other in a small room (for winter time). Some kitchens are extremely neat and tidy with shelves for pots and pans, special food storage places and areas set aside for storage of fuel. Other kitchens do not have these amenities. Some fireplaces are neat and tidy and wood is dried and cut into small pieces. Women have often said to me that within their village there were some people who were recognised as good kitchen managers and some who were poor managers. Women with young children often have very little surplus Income and very little time to both maintain their kitchen and to carefully tend their stoves/fireplaces. They themselves are aware that the amount of fuel they use depends on how carefully they tend their fire. However, when there are hungry children pulling at their skirts, their thoughts are on feeding the children as quickly as possible, not on saving fuel - when children are hungry, they are not worried about fuel conservation. Many women understand that drying fuel leads to fuel conservation and less smoke, but the time they have available often does not allow them to collect wood and store it for the necessary periods of time. It is usually only the wealthy who have either sufficient land or sufficient money to have stock-piles of fuel. Most women can only collect enough wood to last a few days. Some women are just better organised in the kitchen, have a natural talent for working and for feeding the fire efficiently. Frequently, the introduction of a new stove has a major Impact on kitchen management practices. The new stove, if it is properly designed, limits the amount of fuel that can be placed in the stove, stops breeze affecting the output of fire, and concentrates the flame under the pot. If the new stove has these features, women have commented that they need to push wood in less frequently and fuel consumption is therefore reduced. Many new stoves remove smoke from the kitchen which not only reduces the Incidence of eye and lung disease, but also reduces the time needed for women to clean soot from their walls. Often the time that is saved in cooking, cleaning and fuel collection is used to actually improve the kitchen. I have seen households totally remodel their kitchens after the introduction of an improved stove. There are many people who ask such questions as - why don't women use such things as hayboxes?, and why can't we train women to manage their open fire and their simple stoves more efficiently? I would say, most women do not have time to improve their kitchen management with the existing technology and with the burden of fuel collection. I also feel that most women want to see their food cooking and are not keen to take it off the stove and put it in a haybox. Introduction of improved stoves does need to go hand in hand with improvements in both the kitchen itself and kitchen management. These improvements are best achieved through providing local women with relevant Information, thus enabling them to determine what solutions are best for them, rather than by offering external training. [top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 14: Kitchens, Pots and Cooking Practices
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Page created:
12 September 2008; Last edited:
12 September 2008; Version: 0 | |||||||||
Pagename: BP14:KitchenSystemsInDevelopingCountries @HEDON: JPNA | |||||||||
