A nutty solution for cleaner stoves and barbecues

For Nathan Visser, a friendly braai, the South African word for barbecue, is more than a meal — it’s a social tonic.

“We all have our differences and yet braais seem to soften that somehow, where we don’t care, we all just get along,” he says.

He runs a company called BraaiBaas, which means grill chef in Afrikaans. Products include an apron with the slogan “keep calm, we’re going to the BBQ now” and a hoodie with its own pocket for a beer bottle and a handy opener.

Like many people, Mr. Visser prefers firewood to cook his meat over charcoal. And forget about gas, which is often frowned upon in South African barbecue culture.

While he generally emphasizes taking care of the environment, that doesn’t extend to changing his braai habits. Mr Visser argues that his braai does not burn long enough to cause major environmental damage.

He doesn’t want to switch from firewood to briquettes, which claim to be more sustainable. “I don’t want my meat to taste awful,” he jokes.

Michael Duncan, the founder of Shisa Eco-Briquettes, is keen to prove him wrong.

His company uses an abundant source of combustible material in South Africa – macadamia nut shells. The country is the world’s largest producer of macadamia nuts, so there are plenty of shells that are left over.

Since 2021, Mr. Duncan’s company has been taking some of these, compressing them and turning them into briquettes.

He says Shisa Eco briquettes are an environmentally friendly alternative to charcoal.

Charcoal production in Africa is often small-scale, emitting more carbon dioxide (CO2) than necessary and contributing to deforestation.

Mr Duncan says his eco-briquettes can protect forests by replacing charcoal and wood with a product made entirely from a waste biomass product.

And according to Mr Duncan, briquettes made from macadamia husks can enhance the braai experience.

“You have a fiery shell of macadamia nuts that gives off a wonderful aroma that also carries over to the food you’re actually cooking, giving you a different taste.”

Mr. Duncan plans to expand, particularly into export markets which he believes are less cost sensitive and place particular emphasis on environmentally friendly products.

Beyond the braai, more eco-friendly cooking methods could address a much bigger problem.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 2.4 billion people worldwide use inefficient stoves or polluting cooking methods, including kerosene and charcoal.

Inhaling the smoke from cooking with polluting fuels can lead to heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic lung disease and pneumonia, the WHO report says.

Ziwa Hillington is the managing director of Green Bio Energy in Uganda, which makes more efficient cookstoves and briquettes from waste such as charcoal dust, cassava and corn plants.

He says these briquettes produce no smoke or soot when burned, making them a much healthier option. They also help curb deforestation. In addition, the production of briquettes offers jobs.

Perhaps the biggest benefit is cost – Mr Hilligton says they can be between 20% and 40% cheaper than charcoal or other cooking fuels.

Sylvia Herzog is director of the Charcoal Project, a non-profit organization working to find solutions to the unsustainable production and use of charcoal and other fuels, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The charcoal industry is expected to grow at about 3% per year over the next 10-15 years. “Both population growth and urbanization have really boosted the demand for charcoal in less developed countries,” explains Ms. Herzog.

She says briquettes made from waste from agriculture and other industries are a cleaner alternative, but only make up a small part of the market.

“I think the reality is that charcoal isn’t going away anytime soon,” she says, thinking briquettes could be a good stepping stone to cleaner forms of energy.

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Rachael Kupka, executive director of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, says it’s hard to say whether green briquettes would have a significant impact on local air pollution or human health.

“We know that indoor cooking is responsible for a large part of the burden of disease from air pollution – and that this needs to be addressed as a broader sector if we have any hope of reducing the impact of indoor air pollution on human health.”

Back in Johannesburg, Nathan Visser emphasizes the positive and hard-to-measure benefits of cooking on the fire.

“I think braai is like a hidden language that we all speak but we don’t understand it yet. We can all get around a fire with no problems and no obstacles and just get along.”