"Indigenous women in Oaxaca, Mexico, are promoting solar energy as a sustainable alternative for cooking. Known as Solar Cooks, the project operates in around 50 communities, encouraging residents to use solar energy instead of firewood or gas. Footage filmed on Friday shows a woman using the solar ovens, or solar stoves, to prepare food and distribute it to residents. The project is led by solar cooking advocate Lorena Harp, who explained that solar ovens work like conventional stoves but do not use fossil fuels, relying solely on the sun to generate heat. "What these ovens do [is that] they have a silver reflector like a mirror, whose function is to receive the light, gather it, reflect it and concentrate it. And in that part where the light is concentrated is where we are going to place the pot. In this case, our pots are special; they are metal pots that transmit heat. A thin metal, stainless steel, they are covered with a glass lid that also helps us retain the heat, and they are assembled in two parts," she emphasised. Virgila Arellanes Arellanes, a local cook, explained that the use of this device allows her to save resources while maintaining food quality. "I don't pollute, and I don't use gas, firewood or extra water either, because the beans cook in the very water you put them in. [...] This way, we save water, gas, firewood - everything. In other words, we avoid polluting," she said. A local cook said that after a year of using the technology, she has tried different models and now recommends them to others in her community, highlighting that the food does not burn and does not require constant supervision. "I tell them that it saves time because I don't have to be constantly stirring or watching it. I've already made nicuatole [a Mexican dessert] and tamales - I just put them in, and I don't have to check if they're going to burn or not," she added. The project mainly targets rural and indigenous communities in Oaxaca, a state with favourable climate conditions, receiving sunlight on more than 300 days a year."