Why Pressure Cookers Are Big in the Netherlands

JoePhoto

My Dutch colleague gave his daughter, who is off to university and her own apartment, a pressure cooker as a graduation present (also an iMac, but that’s not of economic interest).

I haven’t seen a pressure cooker since my mom used one in the 1950’s. My Dutch friend tells me that everybody there has one and uses it all the time, as they save on energy costs. Maybe I’m leading a sheltered life and just haven’t observed them in the U.S., but my guess is that we don’t use them much because energy is much cheaper here than in Europe.

As the price of energy rises in the U.S., however, I would bet that we will be substituting away from ordinary cookers and toward energy-saving pressure cookers. It’s a nice illustration of how choice of technology depends on prices. (Hat tip: S.F.)