A Study of Solar Cooking: Exploring Climate-Resilient Food Preparation and Opportunities for HCI

Stacey Kuznetsov, Alejandra Rodriguez Vega, Elenore Long

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

As parts of our planet continue to experience extreme heat waves, it is more urgent than ever for human-food interaction research to examine climate-resilient and sustainable food practices. Our work, conducted in the hottest city in the USA, focuses on solar cooking as a set of creative DIY activities that use extreme heat and mitigate human impact on the environment. We report on a summer-long study whereby 7 enthusiasts built solar ovens from scratch and experimented with solar recipes ranging from slow-cooked pork and chicken to bread, kale chips, brownies, jerky, and fruit rollups. Our findings depict solar cooking as a form of iterative DIY, which, through its challenges and creative workarounds, serves as a point of engagement with both food and extreme heat. We reflect on solar cooking as a climate-resilient food practice and conclude with design considerations for HCI to support solar cooking as a habitual community practice.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCHI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9781450391573
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 29 2022
Event2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: Apr 30 2022May 5 2022

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period4/30/225/5/22

Keywords

  • DIY
  • Solar cooking
  • food science
  • sustainable HCI

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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