Guys love gadgets, and guys love fire. Combining these two things is genius! When I showed up a our weekly beach cookout with my new BioLite stove, I was first met with a few chuckles and minor cracks from the other dads. "What the heck is that thing?" They scoffed.
I unpacked the stove, took a quick look at the instructions (who actually reads them?) and started playing with my new gadget. After a minute or two, it got cooking. I mean really cooking. The concept is that this wood burning stove uses its own thermal energy to improve combustion. The small burn chamber powers a fan, and the fan blows fresh air into the fire, making hotter.
https://youtu.be/uFwk1ar2hwY
Not only that, the power generated by the stove can be used to charge your phone or other devices. The stove was created by a couple of hipsters as a way to bring clean energy to impoverished areas of the world. They've delivered millions of stoves to places as far away as Uganda and India.
Once I had my stove up and running, the derisive dads returned to check it out. "What the heck is that?" turned into "Cool! Where can I get one?". I cooked a few hamburgers and sausage on it and found it pretty user friendly. It's pretty small, so don't expect to cook for more that one or two with it (or spend some extra time cooking in shifts). However a few weeks later I went camping and the stove was perfect for toasting marshmallows! The kids loved it, almost as much as the dads. The Kettlepot that's part of the "bundle" i was provided for this review was perfect for boiling water for coffee in the morning. It had rained a bit overnight and the damp sticks and twigs still burned hot.
You can buy wood pellets, either from BIoLite, or your local fireplace or hardware store, but I've just used twigs and sticks I find near the campsite. Firewood hunting is also a good task to send the kids on. After spending a summer with the stove I found plenty of times to use it. Beach cookouts, camping trips, our RV trip, and even a quick "let's toast marshmallows!" treat. And as you are not using fossil fuels, or creating a smokey wood fire, it's a product you can feel good about using...and you'll be the envy of at least a few other dads.
