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submitted 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) by TankieTanuki@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/

Surveys showed that most people had no preference for gas water heaters and furnaces over electric ones. So the gas companies found a different appliance to focus on. For decades, sleek industry campaigns have portrayed gas stoves [...] as a coveted symbol of class and sophistication

[...]

The sales pitches worked. The prevalence of gas stoves in new single-family American homes climbed from less than 30 percent during the 1970s to about 50 percent in 2019.

[...]

Beginning in the 1990s, the industry faced a new challenge: mounting evidence that burning gas indoors can contribute to serious health problems. [...]

Cooking is the No. 1 way you’re polluting your home.

https://archive.ph/Aiyd2

You have more control over temperature on an induction cooktop than you have with a gas cooktop, but there is a learning curve. Samsung induction cooktops show a blue "virtual flame", which can help a new user visualize the amount of heat going to the pan.

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[-] Formerlyfarman@hexbear.net 1 points 7 minutes ago

Where I live electricity is rationed, gass is not. I can afford to cook with gas. If I were to use electricity I would exceed the allowed usage and they would charge insane fees.

[-] Formerlyfarman@hexbear.net 1 points 10 minutes ago

Where I live electricity is rationed, gass is not. I can afford to cook with gas. If I were to use electricity I would exceed the allowed usage and they would charge insane fees.

[-] KrupskayaPraxis@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 hour ago

I prefer gas, apparently that choice wasn't as independent as I thought

[-] KoboldKomrade@hexbear.net 5 points 2 hours ago

Excellent long-ish video: https://youtu.be/eUywI8YGy0Y

He has a follow up about induction woks. The short: Induction is just as good as if not better then gas for actually moving heat from the stovetop to your food.

[-] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 2 hours ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

I have a CO~2~ monitor (which is probably picking up NO~x~ too, it's not expensive enough to be selective) and can literally watch the air quality get worse as I use the gas stove or range. I've never lived in an apartment with a functioning range hood. I'd like to try induction. I watched a Technology Connections video saying that raw power delivery, e.g. boiling water, is faster.

Also, a quirk of how gas works in Chicago is that you pay a flat hookup fee of ~$30 a month, and a fee per therm for consumption. Cooking uses so little gas that the consumption part of my bill is pennies. If I had an induction stove, and if I had an inefficient electric furnace instead of gas, I'd probably still save $25 a month.

[-] KoboldKomrade@hexbear.net 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Excellent long-ish video: https://youtu.be/eUywI8YGy0Y

He has a follow up about induction woks. The short: Induction is just as good as if not better then gas for actually moving heat from the stovetop to your food.

[-] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[-] NoLeftLeftWhereILive@hexbear.net 3 points 2 hours ago

Gas stoves never really got popular where I live. Been cooking on a electric stove all my life, not induction. Have had to use a gas stove in cabin conditions and the chance of accidentally leaving the gas on and such always freaks me out. Also I dislike having to fiddle with the flame, electric is far more predictable.

Have raised a family aka cooked a lot for a few decades with an old school electric stove just fine, have also worked in kitchens and bakeries that had similar stoves. Very much a cooking person myself.

I think it's just what you get used to.

[-] SSJ3Marx@hexbear.net 7 points 2 hours ago

The gas stove thing is so wild to me. I grew up using them exclusively, but the first time I cooked on an electric stove it was exactly the same except ten thousand times faster and easier to clean. I can't imagine ever going back, I might as well get a wood burning stove and live in a log cabin or some shit if I'm gonna use gas again.

And it's not that I don't appreciate other cooking methods - I grill with lump charcoal whenever I get the chance - but damn for daily cooking glass is class.

[-] AmericaDelendaEst@hexbear.net 22 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I love all the nerd ass comments telling me UMM ACTUALLY YOU ONLY LOVE GAS STOVE BECAUSE PROPAGANDA YOU'RE A MORON

Im a professional cook and I've cooked more in the last year alone than most of y'all will in your lives, I know what I'm about, thx

literal gaslighting btw "don't believe your lying eyes and years of experience cooking, you've just been lied to bro"

[-] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 2 points 18 minutes ago

My wife is a professional cook too and she love our induction and use almost exclusively the inductions on her job. The fact that they can be timed to be turned off automatically was a game changer for her.

[-] SSJ3Marx@hexbear.net 13 points 2 hours ago

Im a professional cook and I've cooked more in the last year alone than most of y'all will in your lives

Okay, but have you done a similar amount of cooking on induction as you have on gas? Have you been in a professional kitchen where all of the appliances used electric? Have you actually ruled out that gas is better or is it just your totally unscientific preference?

I was a professional cook too before I left that toxic ass industry, btw.

[-] AmericaDelendaEst@hexbear.net 3 points 19 minutes ago

Have you actually ruled out that gas is better or is it just your totally unscientific preference

The nerdiest debate broiest response i could imagine

What the fuck is "better" here? Literally what does that mean? Because unless you're making a direct comparison between like energy efficiency or whatever it literally is down to preference. Is induction more energy efficient and "faster" heat? Sure, but like other people have said, it requires the pan to make direct contact. It stops heating as soon as it's lifted. It is less responsive and I have greater fine control over how I am applying heat with gas. To me that's "better," ahh but woops, that's NoT sCiEnTiFiC. I also prefer a stove that works when the power is out (ffucking nerds in the comments acting like that neeeever happens, or "just buy a portable stove" (you gonna fucking buy one for me? no? huh)) because I like to eat and not starve

Have you been in a professional kitchen where all of the appliances used electric

Yknow it's weird but every professional kitchen I've ever been in is all gas everything, huh

[-] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 3 points 1 hour ago

it's not all propaganda, though a lot of it is. they have spent billions over the years to convince people that the existing way of doing things is far superior to an alternative technology they have limited experience with.

but yes, your affection for the gas range is not entirely propaganda. some of it is years and years of gas fumes.

[-] REgon@hexbear.net 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

The main difference between gas and induction for me were that you can't stir over heat (doing the shaking thing over flames, I don't know what the word is) because the pan needs to have direct contact with the induction stove and all the induction stoves I've used have been way worse when it comes to adjusting heat. Also pans develop curves with use, or at least in my experience they do. As soon as they curve they suck on induction

[-] AmericaDelendaEst@hexbear.net 0 points 26 minutes ago

10000% but these nerds want to cooksplain to me like I don't know what I'm doing

[-] TomBombadil@hexbear.net 13 points 4 hours ago

I mean two things can be true... The gas industry wants more homes to have gas stoves while in fact they are useless and wasteful for most people. And gas can be a preference for certain people in certain circumstances.

[-] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 9 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I'm willing to concede that for what most people cook in the US or parts of Europe, the way most people cook in those places, gas or induction have a negligible difference. That's because most people in the global North can't cook for shit, and at best do some glorified reheating or some basic-ass lmayo techniques. Have them change their ranges to induction, whatever.

But for professional kitchens or other kinds of cooking that billions of people use open flames for? Get outta here. You're going to tell the south American grandma who hasn't left her town and has cooked with gas her whole life that she's been brainwashed by the American oil and gas industry?

[-] macerated_baby_presidents@hexbear.net 6 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

But for professional kitchens or other kinds of cooking that billions of people use open flames for? Get outta here. You're going to tell the south American grandma who hasn't left her town and has cooked with gas her whole life that she's been brainwashed by the American oil and gas industry?

You know, a pretty decent cause of mortality in poor countries is women cooking over wood fires in confined spaces. Combustion is just not good for you, there's really no way around it.

Also the idea that most people in the north can't cook well enough for their tools to matter is laughable. That's just your vulgar reaction to fetishism of high-class French cooking. What evidence could possibly support it? We can joke about the Brits eating like the Blitz is still going on but you can't set up an objective ranking of cuisines.

[-] Dessa@hexbear.net 12 points 3 hours ago

Nah, there are a lot of people in the global north who can cook their asses off. Sure, a lot can't, but cooking is a fundamental life skill and even colonists have culinary traditions.

No matter what, somebody must cook. More people in the global north are eating out, sure, but there are people cooking for them like AmericaDelendaEst, and those numbers add up. Increasingly, fewer can afford to eat out anyhow, and learning to cook at home has become an outright necessity for most.

Prepackaged ready-to-eat meals aren't as cheap as they used to be, and you can get tired of them very quickly too

[-] homhom9000@hexbear.net 5 points 3 hours ago

It was impossible to sear on my old electric stove. If there was a way to have controllable fire heat without gas, I'd use it.

[-] Dessa@hexbear.net 10 points 4 hours ago

It depends on your method of cooking. Different stoves offer different advantages. I've owned all 3 and actively enjoy cooking, so they've all gotten plenty of use for different purposes. My favorite method of cooking though is stir-fry, so I'll talk about that more.

Quality/Price matters here. There's a reason most restaurants use gas still, and it's because your high-end gas hob can do things no other stove can do. You're not going to find a better way to stir-fry indoors than this (A grill can do a good job outdoors).

Most people are not getting anywhere close to the sort of output -- or proper venting -- that a restaurant has.

As a stir-fry fan, the best stove I've ever had at home for this was a cheap coil electric. They get stupidly hot, and that is the baseline fir stir-fry. You want an old-ass one that doesn't have temperature safeguards. This is likely what a cheap landlord will provide you in an old building.

Glasstop electric looks nice, but I don't get the point. I guess you can't have food fall under the burner? Not a fan.

Induction is terrible for stir-fry. I've read about some specialized curved wok burners, and those might be good, but I absolutely cannot manage a decent stir-fry on these godforsaken things. I've got a mid-range Induction cooktop that does everthing surprisingly well EXCEPT stir-fry. The heat doesn't recover quickly enough when you add new ingredients, there is close to zero heat on the side of the pan, so it's hard to manage temperatures across elements, and you straight up can't season a new wok on them (my wok has a non-removable wooden handle, so seasoning it in the oven is going to require creative solutions too).

Anybody that tells you that an induction can do everything that a gas can is full of shit. This isn't a "skill issue." The technology just isn't optimized for this. I will be buying a single-pan side-burner (probably coil electric, but I hear butane can be pretty good) for my wok unless somebody has direct experience with a specialized induction wok burner and can vouch for it.

[-] keepcarrot@hexbear.net 22 points 5 hours ago

I kinda assumed most people here rented and thus it was their landlords choice if they used gas or not

[-] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 hours ago

Yeah, I rent and way prefer gas stoves to any electric ones I've ever had available to me. I don't have any real experience with induction stoves, but I know if I moved into a place with one, I'd have to buy all new pans.

[-] Dessa@hexbear.net 7 points 3 hours ago

One of the most frustrating things about induction for me is that if a pan develops any sort of curve, it's as good as a paperweight. It will heat only on that tiny point of contact.

Great for the electricity bill tho

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[-] dessalines@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 hours ago

I've never used induction, is it that bad?

[-] Real_User@hexbear.net 4 points 2 hours ago

No, it's fine. It doesn't change temp instantly like gas does but how often do you really need that?

[-] REgon@hexbear.net 5 points 2 hours ago

When I cook. I use induction and it's fine but it'd be nice to not have that be an issue.

[-] REgon@hexbear.net 15 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I just gotta say, all the induction stoves I've tried have been completely useles on ranges 1-5, had a mild effect on 6 almost medium heat on 7, more than medium heat on 8 and then 9 is just more 8 and 10 is a way to boil water faster than my electric water boiler.
Also whoever it is that designs stovetops with touchscreen needs to go to the gulag I fucking hate them. And whoever decided to add a feature to the last induction stove I had where it would beep when it was turned on and nothing was on it... straight to jail.

[-] krolden@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 hours ago

Induction is great for boiling water but when I have to be stirring something around and shaking the pan I dont want to have to worry about breaking the glass cooktop.

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[-] hypercracker@hexbear.net 25 points 5 hours ago

anytime somebody claims it is impossible to cook without natural gas I just say "skill issue" and it is a hard counter, they cannot possibly respond to it without sound like they are very mad

[-] tactical_trans_karen@hexbear.net 13 points 5 hours ago

Def a skill issue. But I must say, I hate electric glass top, way too much heat retention in the glass. I love the quick control I get with my gas burners, but if I had the money it'd be induction all day for me. There's literally no downside.

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[-] CarbonConscious@hexbear.net 2 points 2 hours ago

I've had both over the last few years, and while the cooking experience is not all that different tbh, the one thing that bugs me about my current glass-top electric stove is that the surface is so flat that my ever-so-slightly warped carbon steel pan doesn't sit flat and rocks all over the place and doesn't heat evenly. I've basically been unable to use it since moving here, and it's my favorite pan. :(

But if I had my choice, I'd ofc go induction, but between the other two I'd still go electric, just for the fumes alone. But I'll probably be way less hot on the idea of glass-tops in the future, that's for sure.

[-] Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml 25 points 5 hours ago

Argued with somebody about this and they were like "what it the power goes out?" idk maybe nationalize your electricity grid if that's such a common problem for you, damn.

[-] Adkml@hexbear.net 0 points 1 hour ago

Ah yes, instead of getting a gas stove for when the power goes out in an ice storm or blizzard for 24 hours several times a year I should instead simply nationalize my power grid and also make it immune from the effects of trees falling on power lines.

That's a way easier and more reasonable suggestion than turning on my vent fan when I cook.

Also lol at the people saying "if thenpower goes out just order takeout"

Oh yea why don't I just order takeout from the restaurant 10 miles away that's unreachable because of a blizzard and also doesn't have power.

[-] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 18 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

What if the gas fucking explode?

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this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
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chapotraphouse

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