If this Anevay cooking video doesn’t make you feel hungry, then you are probably a poorly anosmic soul in the grip of a virus and I wish you better fast. The rest of us can smell this wild boar bacon and burgers frazzling!
If you listen to the video, I admit to having been a fan since the moment I clapped eyes upon the cute wee ‘baby Aga’! I referred to a carp show as the place where I first saw this years beforehand and we have had a great working relationship since issue one.
One of the things Ioved was its design brief as an emergency aid provider. This explains it best and is from the Anevay website and is about the history of the Frontier stove: “It’s come a long way from its disaster relief origins, with lots of changes along the way to meet the needs of those using it. When it was first designed, the brief was simple: a lightweight, rugged stove that could be packed up compactly and shipped across the world where it was needed. It needed to be sturdy but straightforward and not too costly to make, to ensure that as many stoves as possible could be sent out as aid.”
Since then, my impression has been that this is THE stove to be seen with at the Bushcraft show. Or that it is seen in a series of impossibly posh insta images of glampers cooking Langoustines on some fabulous Cornish rocky beach. And they make bigger ones for tipis, and narrowboats and shepherds’ huts and yurts… all dead posh and desirable.
Just a few months back, I was sent a brace of new Anevays in an effort to tickle the fancy of my chums at Ranger in Surbiton. I felt they would be great for the shop but they were not as excited as me about them. I was to get them sold if not returned. The Frontier in the new Grit coating finish that needs a nice careful triple-bake for the end user to season, went to my chum Daniel Tucci. A keen chef who was in issue TWO, roasting a whole pheasant. He is working on a range of five chilli sauces we are going to try in issue SIX! That left the Horizon rocket stove, which was in my car.
Here, it gets a little twisty, so do bear with me! In fact, I cannot write it any better than I put on facebook, so here is what went down:
“My wife’s mama was literally awesome at looking after a little girl who’s pancreas packed up totally after a nasty influenza. Back then the British Diabetic Association was the name of the organisation that offered help and advice. Now it is called Diabetes UK.
MeJulie was a tiny tot but mum had her signed up to membership. When I called them to enquire about her 50 year medal (basically for not being dead) I was asked her details… there was a stunned pause when the lovely person at the end checked out her membership number. Out of now hundreds of thousands, MeJulie was #69.
The bloke had never seen one that low…. Anyway, due to the vagaries of NHS prescription and the ripples of cockups that seem to follow any changes… there was a bit of a built up overstock of her insulins. Then they changed her regime and since this refrigerated stuff is coded for years, we have been looking for a good place to donate it. Then, the war happened and my ancient old friend Steve Chalmers (he like what was Scary Steve the editor of Fast Car before Gerard Jones took the helm..) posted something about his mate John Fuggles .. he was a car nut back in the day. We have 220 mutual friends! And John has been driving ambulances, purchased here, stuffed with useful aidstuffs all the way to folks in Ukraine.
He calls it door to door delivery and just said “the last bit is a little hairy”.
I packed up the insulin in freezy bags with cold thingies and also the brand new meter that was just never used! Spare batteries and two tiny packs of playing cards from Christmas crackers, to make the opener smile… Then, I went to Costco, bought ten crates of 40 half litre bottles of water and creaked out to the car. The Costco staff are awesome..just saw the load and volunteered a staffer to help me. Flung into the Volvo, I could have taken lots more… And drove it gently (!) around the M25 to load it into the ambulance on his driveway.
I was supposed to sell the Anevay Horizon stove that was in the car….but when I opened the boot, it literally spoke to me. “WELL, YOU GONNA SELL ME ..OR DO THE RIGHT THING, YA FAT C……?“
So that went, too. That insulin package is a life saver for anyone without supplies and I figured that the water would be a physical humping-about of bulky goods that I could do. Felt good…trundled off home again with MeJulie who came for the ride, humming the theme of Thomas The Tank Engine. No pics.. wasn’t planning on pouring this out..but I am so in awe of what these people are doing. Proper heroes.”
So I basically gave away the Horizon stove, fully prepared to be paying for it… but something made me want to ask what the bosses at Anevay thought. I called and in due course I got called back.
Apparently there have been companies cashing in and humble-bragging and generally behaving in a way that would make any genuinely caring person’s gorge rise in their throat. Because they did something, like filming yourself giving a sandwich to a homeless person. This is anathema to the people at Anevay. They do not accept superhero status. They have been sending stoves to help people but had not been making a fuss about it anywhere.
And I had barely put the idea to them about the Horizon, when they said that yes of course, they would now cover that and I that wasn’t going to get invoiced for it… and furthermore, would another ten Frontier Stoves be a help? I was gobsmacked and leaked a little… the man practically interrupted me in my blither.
Thus I stole an Horizon stove and Anevay thought that was a good idea. They didn’t want me to write about it. But I disagree… THIS is what Frontier is made for and now, ten more are going by truck to the Slavutych war zone near Chernobyl that has had all infrastructure cut off, so these will again, make lives under unimaginable stress, better cared for. Anevay, you are lovely people and can be proud that your stove is once again fulfilling its design destiny of saving lives.
