There are plenty of ideas and tips on how to cut bills or be more environmentally conscious in the kitchen. But with kitchen expert Attila Pál, we got a different perspective on energy saving than we've heard so far. Let's see!
We caught up with Attila Pál in Florida by phone as he was gaining more innovative insights for his work. For years, he has been working as a Kitchen Specialist, who has been commercial kitchens provides full advice on the installation of. It's not just about choosing the right appliances or countertops, but also about the people in the kitchen. He believes that whether it's a kitchen workplace or the family's central space, it has to be „the right place”. It feels charged, it feels good to go in there because every little detail has been planned. It should be practical, handy and have a layout and furnishings that reduce the energy and effort we invest.
The most effective way to save energy is to save people
„We can talk about the location of the steam oven or the fridge, so that we don't put the two opposite poles next to each other, or about energy-saving light bulbs, but here, at this it's much more than that. First and foremost, it is the human being who uses the most energy in the kitchen, sometimes unnecessarily. We shop, unpack, slice, think, lift, cook for hours, then wash and repack. No machine comes close to this power and energy investment. This is what, in my opinion, needs the most thought. Let the kitchen serve us, not the other way around. It's important to find our own range of motion, our own routine movements and arrange it accordingly. In fact, this is the basis of everything.
We try to automate everything, with practical machines, especially in commercial kitchens. What do you recommend, which are the most useful?
I speak a little against myself, but it is really in commercial kitchens where it makes sense to buy lots and lots of machines to save time, labour and manpower. In family kitchens there is less need for this, especially expensive equipment. Today, almost all machines are energy efficient, with similar performance and no need to multifunction any of the technical appliances. In my opinion, whether in a commercial or family kitchen, a good dishwasher is very important, it saves a lot of energy and time. You also need a good oven, a cooker hood and no microwave! What I would ban is definitely the microwave, which kills food completely and in fact leaves a structurally disintegrated pile of calories in the can. I'd rather say heat it up with the steam mode on the oven, because it will barely make a dent in the monthly bills, even if you heat up the whole oven for a bowl of food a day.
What is the future, where is kitchen technology heading?
Responsible thinking is the future. Here too, most things depends on the person, to consciously think about your daily tasks and needs. The most important thing in the factory canteen kitchen is the logistics of what we cook, what we cook with, how we steam together, how we put together the weekly menu. We have to invest time and energy in making the work run as smoothly as possible, which means knowing in advance how many people and what kind of machinery are needed. In family kitchens it's the same. We waste a lot of attention on unnecessary things, like how long the oven is on, whether the dishwasher is on. On the other hand, laptops are left on all day, lights are on in the sink, and these are the things that will show up on your monthly bill.
The world is increasingly moving towards simplification
The single arm grinder works without electricity - and it doesn't go bad, a good knife can slice anything, especially if you only use many of them once a year. There's no need to buy unnecessary machines just for prestige, it's part of being environmentally friendly. But what very few people think about is one of our vital elements, water. For my own family, the first thing I bought was a water purifier, which filters the impurities but retains the minerals. Water is the most important thing for life, so I consider it the most important thing. I think that we can be environmentally conscious, we can be energy efficient, but we have to approach it in a very different way. It is much simpler and also more difficult to do this, because almost everything depends on people, including the way they turn on and off machines, even with the push of a button.
