Yesterday I enjoyed one of those moments of synergy that reminded me that I am on the right path. I was in my kitchen preparing some dishes for a dinner party I was throwing to celebrate a good friend’s birthday when I heard a loud bang. A second later, all the electricity inside my house went out. Just a week before, this would have been a disaster. How could I possibly cook the apple berry crumble I had made for dessert?
Luckily, the solution to my problem had just arrived in the mail the day before: a solar oven from Sun Ovens International. I simply carried the oven outside, placed the crumble inside, shut the glass door, and aimed the contraption at the sun. Just a few hours later, the dish was cooked and I didn’t have to use any energy to do it. It was, to say the least, a transformative experience.
By using the sun to cook a dish I would later share with friends, I tapped into some primitive part of myself that understands that we need nothing more than what we have. If we can cook with the sun and heat our water with the sun and even power our houses with the sun, why do we feel the need to create new and dangerous energy sources like nuclear power? I think the Native Americans had it right. If you study some of the mythology of the Plains tribes, you will see constant references to the power and beneficence of the sun. In fact, the most sacred ceremony for many of these tribes was a celebration called the Sun Dance, which involved dancing, singing, fasting, even flesh piercing, all in honor of that great big fireball in the sky.
One of the coolest aspects of the solar oven is that it’s portable. On a camping trip, you can stick a casserole in it, go for a hike, and return to a hot meal. I haven’t used mine enough to make this argument, but some say the food cooked in a solar oven even tastes better than that cooked in a conventional oven because the moisture can’t escape so your food won’t get dried out.
At this point I probably sound like a salesman shilling for Sun Ovens International so I will end by saying that you can actually make a perfectly usable sun oven yourself out of cardboard and tin foil. I bought one because a friend in the neighborhood found a great deal on them, and I want to have one that will last so the next time the power inexplicably goes out it won’t prevent me from making a tasty hot meal.
