Somewhat tengential, but one of the driving forces behind India's cooking style (simmering stuff for a long time over a relatively low heat) is due to their lac

Somewhat tengential, but one of the driving forces behind India's cooking style (simmering stuff for a long time over a relatively low heat) is due to their lack of combustible fuel. A lot of cooking was (is?) done using cow dung for fuel. This results in a slow, long burn but doesn't reach very high temperatures.