A number of solar restaurants have been established in various parts of the world as income-producing enterprises.
Recent news and developments
December 2012: In the hot and dry village of Villaseca in central Chile , the sun's rays are hard at work here at Delicias del Sol restaurant, cooking up delectable dishes in the eatery's 20 solar ovens. The ovens were originally introduced to the village as a trial project from the University of Chile and the Institute for Nutrition and Food Technology. Delicias del Sol, which started out with a 16 person capacity, now seats 120. The future looks bright for Delicias del Sol. Read more...
Africa
Solar Project Gambia writes: "The best examples of success is the bakery and the restaurant. They really make solar food popular. Through our daily presentations in the street with delicious cakes and cookies in the solar cookers we could make a lot of people interested and curious. The bakery sets an example of how it is possible to generate an income with Solar baking. Our products are to be found along the coast in different supermarkets, small shops and along the beach. The project's restaurant serves solar baked cakes and pastries in a natural environment. The project is also visited by tourists on city tours. The tours are a great opportunity for the visitors to get unforgettable memories of their holiday in Gambia and bring a small solar gift for their friends and relatives back home from the SPG. The feedbacks is very positive."
Vendors cooking fish with the sun on the beach south of Casablanca, Morocco
Since June 2005 the Bethel Business and Community Development Centre in Lesotho has used this parabolic trough cooker to bake 24-40 loaves a day. Even though the dough is kneaded by hand, an income double that of the minimum wage has been achieved.
This example shows a small bakery in the North of Namibia . The small scale bakery is able to bake up to 100 loaves of bread a day or about 300 little fish-tin rolls. For more info, contact Rolf Behringer .
U.S-based True Vineyard Ministries provides sustainable opportunities for widows and children impacted by genocide, subsequent conflicts, and HIV/AIDS in Rwanda. Its “Bake the Cycle” project is helping to break the cycle of poverty by providing solar bakery jobs to 10 widowed women supporting families in Ruhengeri. The bakery provides a variety of breads to local businesses and families. The women use a commercial-sized Villager Sun Oven ® that reaches temperatures in excess of 250°C and can bake hundreds of loaves of bread each day. It has a propane backup system for evening use and during inclement weather. According to True Vineyard Ministries, the project is already having an impact. “For the first time in the widows’ lives, they are able to consistently provide food, clothing, shelter, and education for their families.”
Camily and Gaudenziah Wedende have started the Seeing is Believing Cafe in Eldoret, Kenya . They are cooking cakes, tea, and other solar-cooked goodies, and selling them in front of their Sun Cookers International business. Tanya Cothran, Director of Spirit in Action , writes about their cafe on the Spirit in Action's blog.
See also
New mobile solar bakery benefits the population of Méouane, Senegal
Solar bakery at work in Zambia
Asia
[[Video:Solar Cooking |thumb|400px|left|A restaurant in Thailand grills with a Helios Array , October 2010.]]
Europe
India
Latin America
The Delicias del Sol in Villaseca,Chile uses a dozen or so box cookers and a few parabolic cookers to prepare food for their patrons. The restaurant is operated by the Association of Solar Artisans of Villaseca .
Solar power gives Andean villages a new lease on life - Reuters (Also a Reuters video shows an EcoAndina project in the village of Misa Rumi in Argentina where everything is powered by the sun. Pictured above is the town bakery where 5 kg of bread are cooked every hour.)
Solar Global Gourmet is a restaurant franchise for a business utilizing solar radiation for cooking food. Solar Gourmet is a new brand dedicated to promote and give glamor to solar cooking which represents a system of ecological friendly and healthy food preparation at gourmet levels.
Solar Women of Totogalpa using their solar box cookers to produce baked goods for sale in Nicaragua
The Solar Women of Totogalpa are soon to open(10/2010) their solar restaurant in Latin America. The restaurant, in the small village of Sabana Grande, will offer solar cooked foods, solar dried fruits and coffee, and will be PV powered..
The Taqueria Poncho, solar street vendor cart is the first of its kind in Oaxaca,Mexico .
Chef Inti Langaney cooks with a parabolic solar cooker at the El Romero vegetarian eco-restaurant in Pinar del Rio, Cuba .
[[Video:Cocinas Solares en San Pedro de Atacama Chile.-|thumb|350px|left|Solar cooking at Restaurant Ayllu in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile .]]
Nicolau Bussolotti Francine of Pleno Sol , a solar bakery located in Piracicaba, São Paulo , Brazil .
The Kiosco SOLAR solar powered street food carts are operating in several cities in northern Argentina .
Middle East
A Scheffler Community Kitchen was installed in the spring of 2010 at the Jamhuriat High School for Girls in Afghanistan through the efforts of Solare Brücke . The school is located in the heart of Kabul. The school has an enrollment of 1000 girls and the new kitchen will serve approximately 700 students who have lunch at the school each day. Everyone there looks forward to stop using the wood-fired kitchen stove, and are quite proud that the entire new solar kitchen has been produced in Afghanistan.
North America
Solar Roast Coffee uses a 7 m2 concentrator called Helios 3 that can roast 2.5 kg of coffee grains in 22 minutes. Using Helios 3, instead of a gas fired conventional roaster, about 2 tons of CO2 emissions are prevented. The company started selling their exclusivly organic, fair trade, solar roasted coffees in 2004 and opened its first Cafe in Pueblo, Colorado in February 2007!
Worldwide
Villager Sun Ovens are currently in use in 40 countries around the world in bakeries. Sun Ovens International has developed an optional 150 piece Micro-Sun-Bakery package that enables the creation of a self-sustaining micro-enterprise to turn out fresh baked goods while creating jobs and eliminating the cost of fuel. This program helps to alleviate poverty and enhance the quality of life by empowering women to raise their standard of living through self-sustaining micro-enterprise. This enterprise will utilize the ultimate renewable resource, sunshine, to cost-effectively provide a needed food staple. Once funded, these bakeries can self-fund the expansion to additional locations.
All articles about solar restaurants or bakeries
See also
External links