Building a Fogón

We started building Kai Zakaria and Ña Maria´s Fogón yesterday. Unfortunately I have been sick with the flu and have been on the sidelines for most of the construction. The whole process is actually rather simple and a fogón could be built in one to two days. Basically, a fogón is a wood burning earth and brick oven/stove. No cement is used except for the chimney which is placed outside of the kitchen. The whole thing is designed so that hot air and smoke pass around the oven, heating it, and then leave through the chimney outside. In this way the cook doesn´t breath in all that smoke, every day, three times a day. Also, it is raised high enough so small children can´t trip and potentially burn themselves like on traditional fires.


This is Ña Maria´s traditional way of cooking. We placed it outside while the fogón was being built. She has squated over this fire , breathing in all that smoke for decades.


Kai Juan Ramon (left) came to help build. He is the communities mason and does excellent work.

The first couple layers of fogon. The larger opening on the right will eventually be filled with dirt and the stove will be placed on top. The left opening will hold the oven.


Almost finished.The stove (red box on the left) will be enclosed in bricks with an opening outside to the chimney. Firewood is placed underneath the stove.


I believe that of the 80ish families in my community, only 8 or 9 are using the traditional floor fire cooking method. Hopefully I can find a way to get funds so that all families in my community are cooking with a fogón.