"Is better allyuh (couples) buy two concrete blocks, carry it home, and get some firewood and cook your food on that if you can't buy a stove. All the wives go keep their husbands and all the husbands go keep their wives. That coal pot would mash up a living. I will tell anybody that." Popular chulha queen Shanty Ramsamooj said the frustration of trying to prepare meals on a coal pot can lead to pulling and tugging in marriages.
She was responding to Port-of-Spain South MP Keith Scotland's recent suggestion that people can utilise a coal pot to cook their meals if they cannot afford cooking gas.
But Ramsamooj took Scotland to task for his statement.
Keith Scotland
"Scotland (Keith), this is Shanty. I saying it in big, go and apologise to the people. Me ain’t afraid to tell you, I saying it in the public and I saying it big. This (pointing to a coal pot) is a waste of time. You big enough to apologise...You up there so you would not know. But who in here would feel the heat. You are welcome to come by Shanty anytime, we go bubble a pot to show them you make a mistake in what you said."
Ramsamooj said that Scotland’s statement displayed a sense of ignorance and showed just how out of touch he is with reality. She believes that either the MP spoke "without thinking", the words "just fly out of his mouth", or that he has no experience in using a coal pot.
Shanty Ramsamooj puts rice nto the pot to cook on the coal pot.
RISHI RAGOONATH
Urging people not to heed Scotland's poor advice, Ramsamooj said, "Think before you act."
Delivering his contribution to the budget debate on October 1 in Parliament, Scotland suggested that people utilise a coal pot, as he does, for cooking.
"You want the Government to come and buy gas? We can’t do that. We provide the food. Madam Speaker, I still have a coal pot, you know, where I put my coals and I roast my breadfruit. So, if you don’t have that, go back till such time until you can afford the gas, but don’t come and blame you not having gas on the Government," Scotland said.
Scotland, an attorney, also said he intended to ride his bicycle to the court to save fuel and burn fat.
His comments angered members of the public who took to social media to vent their feelings.
At her La Brea Trace, Siparia home on Wednesday, Ramsamooj, 57, set out to prove Scotland wrong, as she said in this day and age, using a coal pot would be uneconomical, messy and frustrating.
Shanty Ramsamooj places her coals in the coal pot.
RISHI RAGOONATH
She invited the Sunday Guardian into her home to show the headache and stress someone would have to endure to cook a complete meal on a coal pot for their family.
Coal pots come in a variety of sizes and are sold between $475 to $799. A two-burner tabletop stove, meanwhile, ranges from $250 to $999.
Comparing both prices, Ramsamooj said it would make better sense to buy a tabletop stove and tank of LPG gas.
If they cannot afford a stove, Ramsamooj said they can invest in a chulha (fireside) for $100 which cooks faster than a stove and coal pot.
Ramsamooj became a sensation on social media with her cooking skills and making clay chulhas which she uses to cook at home and which she also sells.
Shanty Ramsamooj cuts up pieces of wood as she prepares to cook on the coal pot.
RISHI RAGOONATH
She recalled that as a child she saw her mother using a coal pot for roasting corn, fish, melongene, pepper and tomatoes. But this was done only when they had family gatherings and limes.
Her parents also hot coffee on the cooking vessel while they worked in the garden for hours.
She disclosed that her family used a fireside to cook their meals.
Acknowledging that the coal pot is a rich part of the Caribbean’s heritage and history, Ramsamooj said today it is seldom used by families or the younger generation.
The coal pot was a fixture in every kitchen from at least the 18th century, right up until gas stoves became available after the 1950s.
"I telling you from experience, if my husband brings home a coal pot for me to use, I will throw it away. That is the most frustrating thing I ever see in my life. I know about coal pots, chulhas and stoves. I used them all and the coal pot is most frustrating to cook on," the mother of four said.
Demonstrating how time-consuming it was to cook on a coal pot, Ramsamooj took 45 minutes to light some charcoals.
Shanty Ramsamooj spends over an hour cooking rice on a coal pot.
RISHI RAGONATH
Another hour was spent boiling a pound of rice. A chulha can cook rice in ten minutes. On a gas stove, it takes around 20 minutes, she said.
Every five minutes Ramsamooj had to either blow air into a small length of galvanise pipe called a "pookney" or fan the flames of the charcoals using a piece of cardboard.
"This keeps the flames from dying or outing. If you leave your pot unattended for too long the coals will out. You would have to remove the pot and get the coals lighted again which would not be a simple exercise."
When she was done cooking the rice, Ramsamooj's hands were blackened with charcoals, her cast iron pot was covered in soot, and the ashes were blowing everywhere.
"Look at mess this coal pot causing. Now I have to go and clean this pot. That is another set of work."
To cook two additional dishes on a coal pot–such as dhal and a yard fowl–Ramsamooj said it might take between four and six hours.
For a woman to spend hours slaving behind a coal pot is punishment, "especially if she has to wash clothes, clean the house and attend to her children", Ramsamooj said.
Comparing the cost of a bag of charcoals to a cylinder of gas, Ramsamooj said there was a big difference.
A 20-pound tank of LPG gas tank delivered to your home costs $28.
"This can last between two and three weeks depending on how often you cook. With a six-pound bag of charcoals which costs $45, you might only cook two meals.
"So, when you work it out, it would cost you far more to use a coal pot. This just doesn’t make economic sense in these difficult times. It would put you in more expense," Ramsamooj added.
Sham Ramsamooj prepares the coal pot to cook at his home in Siparia.
RISHI RAGONATH
Cooking with charcoals will cost people more–importer
Keith Sookoo described Scotland’s statement as “ridiculous" and "senseless".
Sookoo said some government ministers tended to talk out of context.
"Sometimes whatever comes to their heads they speak out without even thinking. To me, he (Scotland) didn’t even know what he was saying when he spoke about the coal pot. He may have never even used that (coal pot) to cook but just said it."
Sookoo imports biodegradable charcoals from Guyana which he sells at supermarkets.
A three-pound bag of coal is priced at $20.
The 50-pound bags are retailed between $125 and $150.
"Obviously cooking with charcoals will cost people more."
From Sookoo's experience, he said a three-pound bag of charcoals would only cook one meal.
"Charcoal is very expensive. People long ago never cooked with charcoals. They used wood or lumber. Charcoals would not give you a flame as wood. The heat from the charcoals is used mostly for roasting meats, which is why is it mostly used in barbecues. I don't know what Scotland was thinking when he made that statement."
