Thai vendor: Sunlight cooks chicken in 12 minutes and doesn't pollute By AFP, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.15.17 Word Count 394 Level 540L
Food vendor Sila Sutharat turns the grates on a cart loaded with chicken. He cooks the meat with rays of sun that are reflected on an oversized mirror panel. Sutharat has been selling cooked chicken in Thailand for 20 years. He wears a mask to protect his face and eyes from the heat and light. Photo from: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images.
Sila Sutharat is a cook in Thailand, a country in Asia. He is also an inventor. He came up with a new way to cook chicken. Instead of using an oven or grill, he uses the heat from the sun. Sutharat runs a food stand. He is 60 years old. Years ago, he created a special device. It is a large wall of nearly 1,000 mirrors. Sutharat moves the mirrors to point sunlight onto a row of seasoned chickens. The chickens cook in the heat of the sun. At first, people thought this was a strange way of cooking. They said "cooking chicken like this was impossible," Sutharat said. Soon, they changed their minds. This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
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Takes Just 12 Minutes The mirrors reflect the sunlight. This creates a lot of heat. It gets just as hot as the inside of an oven. Baking the chicken in the sunshine takes just 12 minutes. Sutharat has grilled chicken for about 20 years. In the past, he mostly cooked for people who lived in the area. Then, videos of his solar-cooker became very popular online. Sutharat grew famous. People from across the country now come to his food stand.
Saving Money And The Environment With The Sun Sutharat says the idea came to him in 1997. He felt the heat reflecting off a passing bus. Sutharat thought he "could possibly change it into energy." Thailand is very hot and sunny. The sun gives off a lot of heat there. Using the power of the sun has many benefits. Sutharat saves money by using the sun. After all, sunlight is free! Other sources of heat, such as gas and charcoal, cost money. Using the sun "also decreases pollution," Sutharat said. Burning gas or charcoal for heat makes air pollution. The sun's natural heat does not.
40 Evenly Cooked Chickens A Day Before he came up with the sunlight cooker, Sutharat used a grill powered by charcoal. He says the meat is better now. It is more tender and evenly cooked. Sutharat and his wife Pansri cook around 40 chickens each day. They also cook several sides of pig meat. "We've been eating here for a long time," said Thanyarat Kaewpaleuk. She is a regular customer. She was enjoying lunch with her husband. "It's delicious," she said. "His chicken is fatty, it's not burned and doesn't smell like a charcoal grill."
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
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