There’s something basic about cooking on a naked flame outdoors, and many years of camping has reinforced that primeval urge.

And that’s where I’ll be doing most of my cooking when I hit the road again.

Besides the sheer pleasure, there’s another valid reason — kitchen grease and grime.

Just last week, while checking out my ‘bricks and mortar’ kitchen and trying to decide what to take with me I thought I’d top up my rice and pasta containers.

As I took them down one by one, I saw how each of them was covered in a fine layer of grease — and that’s in a kitchen with a three-speed fan extractor with carbon filters directly over the stove!

Imagine the same scenario in the bus. As it came, there was no extractor, just a nearby window. I could see myself cooking there with a sidewind blowing straight at me, needing to close it and then watching a fine mist settle on everything inside.

Sure the weather is not always going to suit my outdoor endeavours, but neither will I be layered in grease.