Technology Tuesdays: Can I Make Tortillas on an Induction Cooktop?

Hello Partners!

Last week, the SJVCEO team attended the 14th Annual California Climate and Energy Collaborative (CCEC) Forum. For those that may be unfamiliar with this Forum, it is an annual conference attended by agencies, implementors, utilities, and local governments (among others) from all over the state. The purpose of this forum is to share ideas, best practices, programmatic offerings, and funding opportunities in efforts to advance the collective toward the state’s larger energy goals. It is also, a wonderful opportunity to network and to see some of our favorite people we may otherwise only get to see virtually throughout the rest of the year.

The CCEC Forum continues to grow in attendance each year, which is amazing because this means fresher ideas and more opportunities to learn and to be challenged. This year, the hot-button topic was electrification. If I am honest, electrification has been a hot-button topic for years now and is increasing in its urgency. The urgency has been particularly pronounced since the publication of the 2022 Scoping Plan for Achieving Carbon Neutrality which lays out California’s goals and the plan to achieve those goals by the year 2045.

So, what do CCEC, tortillas, and induction cooktops have to do with California’s 2045 goals?

Well, the larger conversation around carbon neutrality and electrification has to do with how we get there. What is the path(s) we need to take to ensure that everyone, not just those with ample resources, can make this journey to carbon neutrality? A significant part of figuring out the path is figuring out what hurdles need to be overcome by each segment of the population in order to meet these goals. The hurdles are many, which was the topic of one post-panel discussion.

The discussion was centered around how can we, as program implementors, educate residents in our communities to make the switch from gas kitchen appliances to electric ones and what are the hangups for doing so when financing is removed from the equation. During this discussion, an attendee asked a question which had been posed by a community member: “Can I make great tortillas using an induction cooktop?” The question seems simple enough but may not be an obvious one for those of us who are so hyper-focused on the bigger picture that we miss how these changes may impact the intricate details of the daily lives of those in our communities. We may miss how cultural norms may be impacted and since culture is such an integral part of who we are and who our neighbors are that these seemingly small details are actually huge barriers to ultimately reaching our statewide goals.

California is ingrained in my being. I was born here; I have always lived here, and it is very likely that I always will. It was only when I began to visit other states that I came to understand this fact about myself. It took precisely 72 hours of being outside of California for the first time to miss it. As I walked through the streets of New York City looking for good tacos and realizing they didn’t exist there, I realized that I am a California girl through and through. Although, I am not ethnically Latino, the Latin influence is so prevalent in California that it is part of me too. Which is why when the question, “Can I make great tortillas using an induction cooktop?” was asked, I was shocked and a bit ashamed that I had missed it. Why hadn’t I thought of this and what else might we be missing?

I am excited that we are beginning to have these conversations about what we might be missing and how we can effectively communicate with those in our communities to truly understand what their concerns are? We simply cannot afford to assume that because electrification is the right answer for the path forward, that our reasons will make sense for everyone. We cannot afford to assume we understand the implications for everyone, and we cannot afford to assume that the sacrifice will be the same for everyone, which is why these conversations are so important.

So, can I make great tortillas using an induction cooktop? The answer to the question is, yes! You absolutely can make great tortillas using an induction cooktop. One of the biggest benefits of using an induction cooktop is the uniformity of the heat throughout the food during the cooking process. They are also much more efficient because there is no residual heat loss; the heat is transferred directly into the food you are cooking. Additionally, because the heat is directly transferred into the food you are cooking, there are no hot surfaces to worry about. If you would like to learn more about induction cooktops, check out some of our previous articles where we discuss more detail about them here and here.

What is the best method of showing people the benefits of an induction cooktop? You have to create an environment where they can use them and test them out. When people can see the benefits for themselves, they are much less apprehensive about the change. The overarching goal is to get people to begin to buy into what we are doing on the larger scale and to understand that they too can make the journey make sense on a personal level. This is just one answer to one question; we have a long way to go; however, I am hopeful that it can provide the blueprint for how to go about answering other questions that will undoubtedly come up as we move forward in this journey.

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