Sun-cooked cuisine tickles taste buds

LEANING over for a closer look, Lucas Nsukazi frowned at a black pot in a plastic bag sitting in a reflector made of cardboard and aluminum foil. “Does it really work?” he asked.

But when he was served a bowl of steaming rice, he broke into a smile.

"For the first time I am eating and enjoying rice that is cooked directly by the sun's rays, which to me is unbelievable," the South African rural education activist said.

Solar cookers, which come in a variety of designs, have been causing a stir at the World Summit for Sustainable development.

About two billion people living in developing countries still rely on wood, charcoal and dung for cooking, heat and light, according to UN figures.

This puts enormous pressure on the environment, contributing to deforestation and desertification in these countries.

Used regularly, a single solar cooker can save a ton of firewood per year and also reduces carbon dioxide emissions, advocates say.

At its most basic, solar cooking requires a dark pot to absorb the sun's rays and convert them into heat energy, and a plastic bag sealed with a rubber band to trap the heat inside. A reflector speeds up the process by concentrating more light onto the pot.

The cardboard-and-foil model which costs just 2 to make produces temperatures up to 275 degrees Fahrenheit, according to California-based Solar Cooking International, a non-profit group which is displaying the cooker at the summit. It cooks a chicken stew in a few hours and can be left unattended.

Across Johannesburg at the Ubuntu, or Unity, Village which features cultural performances, crafts markets and international exhibitions visitors can eat an entire meal prepared with solar energy at the Unplugged Kitchen.

On the menu are solar-cooked stews, beans, mashed potatoes, sausages, bread and cake. Solar panels illuminate the restaurant, where the walls, tables and chairs are made of recycled cans.

Mmathabo Mrubata, who works in the kitchen, uses more elaborate solar cookers to produce her more ambitious menu.

They include an insulated box with a glass or plastic top, which operates like a greenhouse, and a version that uses a shiny parabolic disk to reflect the sun onto a pot.

These models cost between 16 and 150 to make and produce temperature of up to 390 degrees Fahrenheit.

"I cook, bake, everything in these things ... and the food is delicious," said Mrubata, a mother of two from South Africa's rural Northern Cape region.

"This is so good because women in rural areas walk up to four hours to get wood, and they do it four times a week."