Table 3.

Representative Quotes From Focus Group Discussions for Calendar Themes.

Theme	Quote 1	Quote 2	Quote 3
Fear and reluctance	. . . you always hear stories about explosions, cylinders exploding and people getting burned. A couple of months ago there was news about it somewhere, I can’t remember where it was, but a woman was severely injured because when she tried to turn on the stove, the cylinder exploded and she ended up at the hospital . . . I don’t know if she died or not but the photo showed how the kitchen was turned into debris. (Female participant in Anshiguan)	The reason why I always think it’s not safe to have a gas stove at home is that children are naughty, even when you tell them not to touch something they do it behind your back. My sister-in-law has a stove, a small one of two burners but she doesn’t use it because of that, she’s also afraid that her daughter will open the knobs, especially little children that don’t recognize dangers. (Female participant in Achiotes Jumay)	My youngest son is only 15 months but with this (wood) stove I’m not afraid that he’s going to get burned because it gets so hot that he doesn’t come close . . . but with a gas stove I would be afraid because he wouldn’t notice how hot it is, so a pot or a pan can just fall on him, that’s why it’s not safer. (Female participant in Chagüite)
Traditional cooking practices	I cook beans every two or three days because the pot is big but I make tortillas every day. When I prepare beans, I put the pot early in the morning so at midday it’s ready. I can leave the pot on the (wood) stove with just a few pieces of wood while I take the corn to be ground. Beans need to be prepared in clay pots for a few hours. When I come back home the stove will be hot enough to start making tortillas . . . We eat fresh tortillas every day; when you reheat tortillas these are not so tasty anymore, you need to toast them. If I have time, I make tortillas twice a day. I don’t like to buy tortillas at the stores women use gas to make them so they don’t taste good. My husband doesn’t like them either. (Female participant in El Arenal)	I worked in a kitchen for a few years where we only used gas stoves, that’s why I know how to cook with one of these, but I prefer cooking with wood because beans, tortillas and atole [porridge drink] taste better when prepared in clay pots on wood (stoves). (Female participant in Miramundo)	We sell tamales or chuchitos [type of tamal] every Saturday or when someone asks us to prepare for a festivity or funeral. I use an open fire because the pot is quite big, a heavy clay pot. You have to cook the tamales with such pots, like our elders used to. Tamales taste much better when you prepare them in the traditional way, that’s why people like to buy tamales from us . . . Tamales need to be simmered for many hours and let them be covered with plantain leaves and you cannot do that with another (type of) stove. Depending on how many tamales you are cooking you just adjust the wood. All these things cannot be done with a gas stove. Gas stoves are good if you want to cook something quickly. (Female participant in Sansayo)
Wood versus LPG	Sometimes I help my little children with their homework but I can’t always sit and see what they have to do because when you are cooking you need to be attentive all the time, paying attention that (the food) doesn’t get burned, stirring (the food), especially if it’s atole you are preparing. Maybe if one could cook swiftly, then one could have time to do more things, more time for the children or for themselves, do other things or just rest. (Female participant in El Lazareto)	I tell my husband “take the children with you so they can help you” but he doesn’t like it because he says that there (where he cuts the firewood) are snakes, “better not” he says, “it’s better if they stay here at home helping (you).” Many people from this area have been “stung” (bitten) by snakes. They are long and black and it seems that they are poisonous. I didn’t know, but he told me so, then better not, better they (the children) stay at home playing. (Female participant at Pino Zapotón)
Sustainability and accessibility	We pay 200 quetzales [USD25] for the firewood we need each month, my husband picks “two loads” each week with a horse. But if we don’t have money to buy all the wood that we need, we always are able to gather small pieces of wood on the land where we cultivate coffee, beans and maize. Every three years you need to cut the coffee trees because they don’t produce anymore. This wood is really good for cooking. So, we always have a way to find wood. But you cannot do that with gas. If you don’t have money you can’t buy a cylinder, so you can’t cook and you can’t say “I won’t eat until I have the money to buy (a cylinder).” (Female participant in Las Flores)	I remember that when I was little we were able to see trees everywhere. But most of this is gone. We have a protected area and you need a special authorization to cut branches there, but nowadays there are too many families living here. Now we have problems with not having water, not having wood. We are cutting more than planting trees. We once had a gas stove but we never used it. There is no money, no jobs, so what are the options? (Male participant in Azucenas)
Health outcomes	We are used to the smoke, so I can’t tell you if it’s good or bad. I’m over sixty and I have cooked with firewood my whole life, as my mom did. Sometimes your eyes burn but this happens when the wood is wet or green, that’s why you have to use branches from trees that don’t produce too much smoke. We have a “plancha” [stove] with a chimney and all the smoke goes out; you don’t even notice the smoke. (Female participant in Laguna Verde Abajo)	. . . well yes, sometimes I have some (health) problems, like coughing or a bad cold, but that’s because I’m old. All my ailments are because I’m old. Look, children don’t get sick as often as old people do because they are still young or if they do they recover more rapidly . . . I have never heard before that someone died because she had cooked with firewood. If that were true, then we all would be sick, right? (Female participant in El Arenal)
LPG is “not natural”	Gas is toxic, you can tell by how it smells, even food tastes bad when you cook with gas that’s why I don’t like it, I’m afraid we will get sick if the food gets poisoned with gas. (Female participant in Llano de la Puerta)	The smoke is like rain for everyone, but gas is not only dangerous but also toxic. I wouldn’t like my spouse using gas for cooking. I also don’t like microwaves. All those “new things” just pose a danger to our health, you don’t know if they can give you cancer, it’s better to use. what’s natural. (Male participant in Azucenas)	Cooking with firewood is not easy and you can get aches and pains but this is nothing compared to gas, because (while) the wood comes from trees, the gas is produced in big industries and put into cylinders. You can even smell it. That can’t be healthy, that can’t be good for you. (Female participant in Chagüite)

Note. LPG = liquid petroleum gas.