The practice of harnessing solar energy has notorious examples: in the year 212 B.C., the Greek mathematician Archimedes is said to have used mirrors to harness the rays of the sun against the Roman fleet attempting to invade the island of Syracuse. The very same principle generated the solar cooker, an exceptional, yet formless, object. A solar cooker is a principle rather than a thing: its form is how it works. There are infinite versions of the same object and it would be impossible to classify them in terms of their validity as objects, or designs. The only thing that matters is how they work, how inexpensive they may be, and how might them be distributed to the places where they are needed the most. The performance of this object is outstanding: today, a parabolic solar cooker can reach temperatures of 350˚ F (177˚ C) for frying, baking or boiling foods. Solar cookers have undergone many variations and improvements since the first prototypes were invented in the late 19th century. It was not until the 1950s when solar cookers re-emerged when the United Nations sponsored several studies aimed at the development of inexpensive, easy to use, cooking devices for Africa. In 1976, Barbara Kerr and Sherry Cole developed the (simple) cardboard, foil-laminated solar box cooker, an ingenious device that is inexpensive, easily transportable, durable and highly efficient in its performance in rural underdeveloped environments. The next step should be to incorporate solar cooking to first world kitchens.
