Filo & Fibra: A cooking box made from sheep shearing waste.

THREAD & FIBER

Cooking in a wooden box using minimal external energy thanks to the principle of thermal inertia. Slow cooking , ideal for stewed meats, legumes, vegetables, minestrone, and soups, allows you to savor the unique flavor of the slow cooking process, typical of traditional cooking, and bring your food to lunch or dinner with hot, cooked food while saving energy and fuel.

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COOKING BOX WITH SHEARING LEFTOVERS

These are true slow food preparations where you don't need to monitor the pot, the food remains tastier, and after 8-10 hours it reaches a temperature of 60-70°C with minimal external energy use . This is possible thanks to the "cooking box," an ancient method of cooking in a wooden box insulated with wool.

The tradition of cooking in a cooking box began when, in times of hardship, it was necessary to conserve wood or gas for cooking. It is so much so that it is found in the pages of a handbook for housewives entitled "Don't Waste," dating back to 1941 , during the difficult years of the Second World War. This handbook illustrates, with drawings, the cooking box, at the time a wooden or cardboard box padded with straw and used to finish cooking food once it had started on the stove.

The box, closed and padded with insulating materials, is now one of the flagship products of the Filo & Fibra community cooperative in San Casciano dei Bagni , in the province of Siena, which works, among other things, to establish a virtuous relationship with the local area, promoting and spreading ancient and often forgotten traditions of popular culture through production processes and products based on environmental protection and the circular economy.

The cooperative's core business is recovering wool from local farms , a special waste that, as such, entails high disposal costs for farmers. For this reason, Filo&Fibra collects, washes, carbonizes, and performs all the chemical analyses necessary to transform it into recovered yarn, engaging local seamstresses, designers, and artisans to produce products from the recovered wool. It is precisely the recovered wool that is used to insulate the cooking box , a wooden cube with a hole in the middle for a pot (or other container) of approximately 3 liters, with a hermetically sealed lid, used both to continue cooking without the use of fuel and to keep food and drinks warm or cool.

COOKING BOX PROJECT

Ideal as a lunch box, the box is also excellent for making yogurt and for cooking healthy foods even for those who don't have a lot of time available: just start cooking in the morning, such as boiling cereals or legumes for half an hour, and then leave it to finish in the box.

Once the pot is placed inside the box, there's no need to monitor its cooking: thanks to the slow cooking process, the food doesn't overcook or stick to the bottom, allowing you, for example, to return in the evening to find everything hot and ready. The box, made of natural and biodegradable materials, free of plastics, produces no emissions and requires no active energy, other than that needed to bring the food to a boil before placing the pot inside, with undeniable advantages in terms of savings, taste, and health.

The practical applications of the cooking box are noteworthy: it's a perfect product not only for those who are environmentally conscious and sensitive to sustainability issues, but also for those who don't have the time or inclination to cook. The Filo & Fibra cooperative is already considering extending the project to organic and eco-sustainable restaurants and bistros, or to kitchens that need to reduce energy consumption, such as those in campers and boats, by diversifying the model range.

ADVANTAGES OF THE WOOL FIRE COOKING BOX

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