The solar cooker used to be the thing in rural Gansu—just point it at the sun and boom, lunch is served ☀️🍲. Especially in places like Zhangye, where the sun hits hard and fuel was pricey, these big shiny dishes were a game-changer. No coal, no cost, just clean solar vibes. But these days they’re kinda getting ditched. Too risky during dry seasons (yep, fire hazard 🔥), not super reliable on cloudy days ☁️, and now that gas and electric stoves are more common thanks to clean energy programs, pe