>>569017Alcohol is great because it is simple. Most designs pack very small. You can improvise one with a tuna can, some toilet paper, and a wind screen (or earth mound). It doesn't put out a lot of heat and is fickle in windy conditions.
Gasoline stinks and cannot be healthy. But you can resupply at any gas station or Home Depot. The fuel is pressurized and gasified which makes for a powerful and easily controlled burn. These are hardly bigger than the alcohol ones, they just have the added pump bottle.
Propane or butane is great. But the bottles or containers are heavy in your pack. If you have a base camp then a multi flame gas burner is basically a kitchen stove on the go. The small ones are as portable as the gasoline ones, the big ones are merely transportable, not portable. Many professional cooks use gas in their kitchen.
Wood is a whole range of fires, ovens and stoves. From 100g fold flat titanium hobos to backyard pizza ovens, wood is the traditional cooking fuel. However, without some expertise it burns really dirty and will produce lots of airborne dust and soot, as well as tar like residue. No problem out in the open, but if you're heating a shelter you'd better know what you're doing. Wood gasifiers (stoves with hot air injection into the flame) burn very cleanly and efficiently, even with sticks and cones. They are marketed as survival gear, distributed as aid to Third World countries, and a favorite Youtube DIY topic. The advantage is obvious: You don't have to carry fuel. But you have to collect it, split it, sometimes dry it, wood is a lot more involved. I like that.
Esbit is a alcohol alternative with solid blocks of hydrocarbon that needs no wick. But I would call it extreme survival gear, useful when you're stuck on an iceberg and trying to cook a seal you killed by biting its neck.
Where do you want to cook? What is the climate, what the vegetation? Do you carry, do you pack light, do you canoe or bike?
