A cooking session called, Good taste, electricity smart cooking, was held at the Nicolway shopping centre in Bryanston to promote the reduction of energy consumption.
Eskom, in partnership with Pick n Pay and 49M invited chef Justine Drake to demonstrate how energy efficiency cooking can minimise energy costs.
“This is a social movement aimed at behavioural change,” said Peter Pretorius of 49M, South Africa’s energy efficiency initiative.
The 49M campaign is also an Eskom initiative which is supported by government and businesses. “With this initiative we are trying to teach South Africans how to save electricity and spend less on electricity consumption,” added Pretorius.
Andrew Etzinger, spokesperson for Eskom said in winter South Africans used a lot of electricity. “Cooking is an intensive electricity usage activity,” added Etzinger. “The campaign is aimed at getting the public to cook efficiently to reduce the high electricity bills. We need to do our bit for the environment.”
Drake encouraged everyone to invest in a pressure cooker. She said pressure cooking was one of the methods that would reduce electricity usage during cooking. “Food cooks much faster in a pressure cooker and you don’t have to use that much electricity to prepare the food,” said Drake.
During the cooking session she taught guests how to prepare energy efficient meals. One of the energy efficient meals, which was prepared in a pressure cooker, was prawn and chorizo risotto. She shared various recipes which can be found in the 49M Energy-Efficient Cookbook.
Details: www.winter-cooking.co.za
