Dr Hector Perera      London

I have practically demonstrated in front of The Sustainable Energy Authority then to The Invention commission how to cut down wastage of energy in cooking. Not only I just pointed it out but I gave a solution as well. Before I went to see these authorities for many years I experimented out how to save some energy in cooking that is I cooked and tried how to save energy. In England I had only one room for studies, sleeping and for cooking so cooking aroma depositing on my clothes was a problem. The room next to my room was a former kitchen but no one used it for years then I moved my cooker to that room to cook. Most Asians like me eat rice and curries and I ate that kind of things in the weekend and for supper. Just like any other University student, I had my lunch at the University and hardly ate takeaway food for supper. There were so many reasons why I didn’t like takeaway food.

Cooking ingredients have organic chemicals

In cooking curries such as lamb or chicken, we normally add Asian spices such as mixed curry powder, curry leaves, ginger, garlic and many more. All these ingredients have plenty of organic chemicals which we expect to react with lamb or chicken to give a better taste but who would like to wear them on clothes and walk about like Tandoori Chickens?

Helped the public to save energy

When we went on holiday to Sri Lanka, I demonstrated my kind of cooking to some people living in a block of apartments in Colombo. I repeated this several times and that really helped me to gain more confidence. Then I contacted ITN television and explained something about energy saving cooking. They were impressed with my explanation and allowed it to be demonstrated in television so that many people would benefit. They realised that practical demonstration is required than a verbal explanation.

Contacted the energy authority

I even contacted the energy authority about my work then two of them visited my place to witness my kind of energy saving cooking. They were impressed with my work but those two officials couldn’t give an official approval. Then only I contacted the Director and the Director General of The Sustainable Energy Authority to witness my work.

Demonstrated how to cook scientifically

A whole team of officials arrived at our apartment to witness my work. I knew they are visiting to witness my energy saving cooking but not to see how I added ingredients to a chicken curry so I added them before they arrived and allowed to marinate. Then cooked some rice with a measured amount of water but not checking the water level by dipping fingers into the water just like most people do. I explained my work with appropriate scientific terms so they understood my kind of scientific energy saving cooking.  All the scientific terms were explained in simple terms so they knew exactly what I was talking about. I talked about how energy lost by, convection, conduction and radiation then how to cut down radiation energy in cooking so that some energy is saved in cooking. Once the temperature reached a thermodynamic equilibrium condition, I adjusted the temperature to maintain it like that way until cooking is completed. This time both the rice and chicken were cooking while I made these explanations to the officials who watched cooking by standing near the cooker. They were surprised that there was no cooking aroma to shower from the boiling chicken curry. Most British TV chef shower themselves with cooking aroma while cooking but there was none in my kind of scientific cooking. If the British TV wanted to know how it was done then I must show it by a cooking demonstration than limited to verbal explanation. I was thinking, if my work was good enough to be witnessed by the energy authority and for the Invention Commission, sure it should be good enough for British TV.

All my cooking were live demonstrations

I didn’t cook anything before the arrival of the energy authority but just allowed to marinate the chicken curry that is all. Then in front of them, I cooked chicken curry and rice under 45 minutes. They accepted the fact that I used fairly low gas fire in cooking both chicken and rice that means I have saved a considerable amount of gas in cooking. After cooking chicken curry, I had to leave it for about five minutes with the lid on because the molecules were in an agitated state or there was high entropy. These explanations can be better explained with an actual cooking demonstration than limited to verbal explanation.

Why my work is not good enough to British TV?

If my work was good enough to The Sustainable Energy Authority’s approval and for The Invention Commission’s approval then for a live cooking programme with Sirasa TV sure my work should be good enough for any British TV. Suppose any energy authority or a leading chef in a British TV is capable of disproving my scientific energy saving cooking, I still have my challenge. That means if anyone disproved my work, I am prepared to hand over that challenged money. My work is based on science and according to science, every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. I am sure you all know exactly what I mean.

 Home cooking is easy and fun

I hope my work is very helpful to others to home cook easily saving energy then avoiding any cooking aroma. Energy means money that means gas and electricity are not supplied for free by the energy companies. One needs to look after the expenses for the energy but if energy is wasted in cooking then they are wasting energy for which they have to pay.

Some British TV chefs  run like Tandoori chickens

In most British TV cooking programmes, the contestants and even the chefs who judge the cooking, just waste energy and shower with cooking aroma. The contestants think that they also should follow the method and sometimes they even let the cooking aroma catch fire to excite the viewers and the judges. Sometimes back there was a famous chef who used rude words that means swears while cooking also set fire to the cooking aroma. Who would say that is acceptable kind of cooking and helpful to the public to cook something at home?  The TV broadcasting authorities just allow these programmes to be shown with an idea that they are entertaining and popular but I have my doubt. My idea is to cook and save a considerable amount of energy that means to save money wasted in energy then to avoid any cooking aroma while cooking. I have already helped some Sri Lankans to cook my way that is to cook scientifically and save some energy wasted. If British TV didn’t allowed me to demonstrate my scientific energy saving cooking then it does not matter me. What can I say, some British TV chefs, waste energy, burn money and shower with cooking aroma and run run just like Tandoori chickens? Your comments are welcomed perera6@hotmail.co.uk