A (new) cultural turn toward solar cooking—Evidence from six case studies across India and Burkina Faso. Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 2, June 2014, Pages 49–58.
Author: Pia Piroschka Otte.
Solar cooking can generally be described as a way to use the sun’s energy for cooking. Despite its multiple benefits as a clean, modular, simple source of energy, the implementation of solar cookers is not as widespread as one would hope. In the literature it is argued that solar cookers are not adopted because they are often considered to be culturally disruptive. This paper shines a new light on the cultural dynamics of cooking by showcasing the social acceptance of solar cookers. Six cases are presented from two different countries, Burkina Faso and India where a particular type of solar cooker (Scheffler reflectors) was installed among bakeries, shea nut butter producers, and steam kitchens. These cases demonstrate how cultural factors can be adoption-enhancing or limiting in different contexts. In essence, the paper finds that solar cookers are successfully implemented where they conform to underlying cultural factors. The study concludes that by implementing solar cookers as part of an existing socio-cultural framework, solar cookers move away from an image of a mere foreign technology to an integrated part of the target society.
