Losing the Energy to Cook: An Exploration of Modern Food Systems and Energy Consumption in Domestic Kitchens

The Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme has generated data on the amount of energy required to cook meals using different fuels and cooking devices. Fuel stacking is commonplace, especially among households with access to modern fuels. Experience shows that people tend to use modern fuels for quick tasks, such as preparing a cup of tea, but prefer to use biomass fuels for foods that take longer to cook. Therefore, changes in the choice of foods in the household menu have the potential to affect the transition to modern fuels. This paper discusses the potential of innovative and emerging aspects of food systems in low-income countries to impact on households. It starts by looking at the processing of indigenous crops to create convenient and nutritious food products. This leads to an overview of the rapid growth of the food processing industry and future opportunities. Consuming food that has been prepared outside of the home is also a common and rapidly growing practice, which is likely to be driven (and disrupted) by technological innovation. Cooking energy considerations depend largely on fuel stacking behaviours, and the paper argues that modern food systems have the potential to reduce energy consumption in the kitchen, and to play a role in displacing traditional biomass fuels with modern fuels.