Heaven Sent Food A Guide to Solar Cooking

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St. George, Utah in April 2009

This event displayed Paul Munsen's trip through Utah to promote solar cooking to public and private groups. He brought along the Villager SunOven, which is capable of cooking 1,200 meals a day. It is quite the oven. It has a propane backup in case the weather is bad.

Solar cooking instructor Nathan Parry of St. George explains the Villager. He organized the very successful event where his students and the public enjoyed samples of solar cooked food, along with the opportunity to buy the solar cookbook, Heaven Sent Food, which many did. It was a wonderful event in the spring sunshine.

Paul Munsen is the president of Global SunOven and his company sells one of the best solar cookers in the US. The money they generate from sales helps subsidize the work that they do internationally to bring SunOvens to countries whose population depends on solar cooking to cook clean meals to offset the black carbon from wood, charcoal, or dung fires they otherwise would use to cook meals.

Paul Munsen and Nathan Parry showing folks in St. George how to cook with solar ovens. The day was cool, but the sun was good and we were able to cook some good food.

The Next Big Event: ASU and the FeastiVal

On the first weekend before Earth Day, ASU Polytechnic Campus hosted a FeastiVal and had vendors come out to share their environmentally friendly wares. Samples were passed out and the participants enjoyed learning about solar cooking and tasting the delicious food presented at the event. There were other groups who presented sustainable living ideas.

This event was held in Tucson in April 2009. It is the solar potluck. This year's was the 27th annual one held there. It was a big success. There are lots of pictures at the link below of food, unusual solar ovens, and people who participated in it.

Tucson Solar Potluck Pictures

Lee Canyon, Nevada

We spent the weekend with friends in Lee Canyon , north of Las Vegas about 50 miles. The temperature was around 75 at an elevation of 8,000 feet. On Saturday we demonstrated solar cooking at the Festival in the Pines, an annual event for Spring Mountain residents, as well as visitors from Las Vegas.

This is a solar thermal array south of Las Vegas on Highway 95. It generates 64 megawatts, covers 300 acres and has 760 mirror arrays. They are filled with tubes with oil in them which creates steam that runs a turbine.