Utility perception of low cost food warmer in Kashmir valley

Abstract

Since in Kashmir winter adds to the miseries and hardships of women by repeatedly heating up the food items to serve at different intervals of time during the day as food items do not remain warm which is again a challenging job for her. A low cost food warmer is a new innovation to keep the foods ready to serve and for quick curdling which can prove beneficial for both rural and urban areas. A cheap and innovative warm cover using locally available material has been developed to keep the food warm up to 8 hours at room temperature. Process of making curd is a day long process and even hard especially during winter. Development of the technology was very much need of the hour to replace the old age tradition of covering the hot pot with warm blankets / woolen clothes. In winter food warmer has advantage of making the curd 3-4 hrs. These products have good demand and wider consumer acceptance and can become a remunerative enterprise for rural youth in Kashmir. Relative advantage of the technology in terms of utility was assessed through discussion with rural women and maximum number of respondents found beneficial.