Living in the Andes / Photo by Giles Dawnay
One of the exciting things about the Andina Expedition is the chance to meet and see first hand the incredible people of this Andean region of Peru, and although meeting these ‘gente andina’ will probably leave us feeling overwhelmed by their happy and welcoming nature, we will also be exposed to the realities they face living in these hostile and tough mountain conditions.
One of the things I often hear people long for in the western world is to cook over an open fire and get back to a simple existence. However for many of the mountain people in Peru the daily reality of looking for wood, setting light to it and then cooking over it is actually far more hazardous than we could imagine. Every day thousands are exposed to prolonged smoke inhalation, one of the leading causes of early death for residents of the region. Most families use open flame fire pits inside their home to cook meals as well as heat their house, but with no chimney for ventilation the carbon-filled smoke covers the walls with black soot whilst doing even more harm to the lungs of those inhaling the toxic air. I have been in countless kitchens where the family will huddle very close together over a smoking fire in order to make the meal and whilst this conjures up quite a charming image it couldn’t be any further from it. The Peruvian government says that the intake of smoke is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day and many children are becoming seriously ill as a result. Thankfully this problem has gained a lot of awareness recently as the outside world has started to realise that these horrific conditions are just not acceptable. Most recently there has been a large drive by local governments, NGO’s and other groups to help bring a new type of stove and kitchen design to the houses of those living high up in the Andes.
“Key components of the kitchen’s design were a raised cooking platform, an enclosed channel with humps for the fire, multiple openings for pot location, an ash trap, and a compressed dirt chimney. The materials used were compressed dirt bricks for construction of the platform and the chimney, fired bricks for construction of the fire’s channel, a local clay mixture (used for roofing tiles) for the lining of the fire’s channel and to insulate the sheet metal, a mud and straw mixture used as a mortar to hold the compressed dirt bricks, sheet metal to cover the fire’s channel over which the pots would be laid, rebar for the ash trap and to support the weight of the pots over the fire’s channel, and finally cement to cover the stove to finish it.”
- A project in Peru in 2006
The raised platform creates a more hygienic cooking environment by keeping food and preparation higher off the floor where dirt and microbes are found, especially in households that raise small animals in their kitchens. It also decreases the risk of accidental burns by keeping the fire and hot surfaces out of reach of children. The enclosed channel for the fire leads to a more efficient use of heat which in turn leads to faster cooking times and reduced consumption of fire wood, and the humps direct the heat of the flames toward the second and third pots to further increase efficiency. Families were given a choice of two or three pot kitchens. The ash trap allowed the easy collection of ash for other uses, and provided better air flow for the fire, again increasing efficiency. Finally, the chimney allowed for the removal of smoke from the kitchen environment. The chimney was built with compressed dirt bricks rather than sheet metal used in other designs in order to build a wider flue for improved air flow, reduce maintenance and increase the lifespan of the chimney. The longer life of the chimney was important to the families because they didn’t have the income to buy replacement sheet metal.
If you’re interested in coming to the Andes with Tribewanted next summer then visit www.tribewanted.com/blog/andina for more details.
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