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Stoves for Cafés and Food Stalls by Philippe Laura

Boiling Point
Front cover of Boiling Point issue 34
Issue 34 (1994) Smoke Removal
ArticleStoves for Cafés and Food Stalls
AuthorPhilippe Laura
Extract from a paper in French entitled 'Le Secteur de la Restauration Urbaine'.

The importance of 'restaurant' cooking in the context of fuel energy and pollution is generally ignored, although it is considerable and increasing rapidly in the expanding urban sectors of most developing countries. There are ready different types of establishments; each having its own particular cooking requirements. A survey was carried out in francophone West Africa by the Association Bois de Feu, in association with UNIFEM, and Luis Berger/SERDI, as part of a World Bank programme. These 'eating/take away' establishments are difficult to classify. They can be private or public, run by men or women, owner or employee operated, permanent or mobile, serve specialist or general food, use traditional or modern cooking equipment, and offer eating in, or take away facilities. For the purposes of this survey, the following three classifications have been used:
  • Institutions - hospitals, schools, prisons, factories or businesses, which often use large quantities of wood to cook food in large containers for many people. The fuel is usually purchased. It is a significant part of the institution's budget which may be monitored, and so the importance of fuel-efficient cooking will be recognized. It may also have a significant impact on local deforestation.
  • Popular cafés and restaurants - permanent and for eating on the premises, serving varied food or specialized dishes, such as fish and chip shops; may open all day (and night) or for one meal only, and are often family businesses.
  • Street stalls - use simple, portable cooking equipment; and fuel costs are usually an important part of the production costs. They spread rapidly in newly developing urban areas or where people work some distance from their homes.

[top] [end]Fuel consumption

This varies from 4kg of charcoal per day for a roadside plantain grill to 10 - 15kg of charcoal or 45kg of wood per day for a café or restaurant. In general, the restaurant trade takes only a small part of the town's total fuel consumption; in Dakar, 3 per cent of charcoal but more of wood; in Abidjan, 25 per cent of charcoul, in Lomé, 75 per cent of fuelwood. The need to improve fuel efficiency is clearly shown.

[top] [end]Editor's note

Phillippe Laura's article in foyer Amélioré draws our attention to the increasing importance of institutional kitchens, restaurants and roadside stalls as fuel consumers, particularly in large cities such as Bankok. His data shows that there is a wide scope for improving the fuel efficiency of these businesses which has not yet been tackled by the organized stove programmes, except perhaps for large institutional kitchens where agencies such as Bellerive, Carmatec and Redi have fed the way. The article does not cover stove designs, fuel types, smoke pollution (city fog), unwanted heating, accident risks and so on and so Boiling Point would welcome contributions on these problems.

[top] [end]Contents: Boiling Point 34: Smoke Removal

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Smoke in the Kitchen - Any Stove Will Smoke if You Dont Use it Correctly - Acute Respiratory Infection, Conjunctivitis and Accidental Burns - Exposure to Air Pollution From Transitional Household Fuels In A South African Population - Smoke Removal in Kenya - Chinese Chimneys - Indoor Air Pollution in Rural Tigray - Removing Smoke from Nepali Kitchens - A Breath of Fresh Air for Smoky Houses - Vietnames Kitchens - Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Improving Environmental Degradation - Indian Governments Stove Programme in Question - Cooking energy Efficiency in Indonesia - Phillipines Ricehull Stove - Stoves for Cafes and Food Stalls - Fuel from Three Stages of Pyrolysis - An Electric Metad - Crack Reduction in Clay Stoves



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Page created: 22 August 2007; Last edited: 01 December 2008; Version: 1
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