People in China routinely use woks on electric stoves; they're just as common in China as they are here. There's a lot of mythology about woks and wok hei, most of which is based on people confusing restaurant cooking techniques with home cooking. This issue isn't racially coded.

> what electric stove will their apartment have, resistance or induction

I'd assume nobody would install a resistance stove in a new apartment (since this only applies to those)

> And will they have induction safe cookware?

Cant you just put a steel plate under any pan, and then it’s induction compatible?

Ideally you’d have compatible pans, but you don’t have to.

We got a $75 portable induction unit and it’s all I ever use. Our wok works great on it, as do all our other pans except 1. Using the gas cooktop now feels like cooking with a Bic lighter. Admittedly it is not a high end expensive one.

Induction these days is almost as cheap as gas, not sure if that makes a difference any more.

I still like looking on gas a lot better.

I think the reason people usually don’t like resistive cooktops is that they change temperature slowly so it is hard to adjust things to the right temperature.

I’d challenge anything to a race with a decent induction cooktop. I doubt gas is quicker, it’s silly fast to boil water.

That said, upgrading for this reason would be very silly.

> No way I'm throwing out my 20 years old stove to save 2 minutes boiling water

A normal electric stove isn't even going to be two minutes slower to boil. Depending on the stoves in question, the resistive stove might even be faster to a boil than the gas stove, even if the gas stove is rated for more BTUs.

Are they?

New Zealand is ludicrous marked up in terms of consumer goods, and I’ve just checked pricing. The cheapest is resistive electric. Then fractionally more is gas. Induction costs approximately double for 4 hobs (for 2 hobs it’s about 50% more than resistive).

If you count installation, both electric options are going to be less expensive than gas. If the big cable needs running for induction, the cost might be similar to gas.

Not factored in, cleaning. My god is induction nice to maintain.

I'm actually so confused about this.

When I was in college, I bought a portable induction cooker off Amazon for $60. It was the best. I could boil a large pot of water in about the same time as the gas stove I had at home. (I never timed it, but it felt basically the same.)

I could have bought four of those induction cookers for less than $250. If I ever built a house (I currently rent an apartment and am stuck with gas), I would at least be tempted to literally do that, instead of spending the money on a "real" cooking range.

Why are full ranges so expensive?

Anecdotal, but in my cheap apartment (like $300/mo) there is an induction stove. This is not in New York, of course, but still it couldn’t have been that expensive to install.

Gas heats large thin pans unevenly too.

I don’t like cooking on the electric stove top because it provides uneven heating. It’s easier to clean though.

I have to agree with you. I grew up with electric coil stoves, and learned to cook with them, and had them most of my adult life so far until a few years ago when we bought our current home it came a gas stove/oven. I love it, I cooks so much better. Turn the knob and heat is just there now across the whole cook surface, the oven heats fast enough i don't bother to preheat anymore. the wok sucked on the coil stove.

It started with arrogance

Another poster has suggested that you try a butane torch, but I want to point out, that's not just an alternative, that's a better way to do it. It's much easier to move a small torch than the entire dish, so you can keep the flame moving and get a much more even roast. An aubergine (eggplant for this side of the pond) has enough water content to be pretty forgiving, but if you're roasting pita or something else with low water content, a stove will almost inevitably give you burnt spots which taste bad and contain carcinogens. It's maybe not bad enough to be a dealbreaker for a home cook, but you won't see a nice restaurant doing it this way.

And that's setting aside all the other possibilities a torch opens up, like flan or crusting cheese, which are best done from the top.

Staying away from the flame war (pun intended), but regarding baba ganoush: you might get better results with an electric oven (grill/broiler) and a cheap gas torch.

Is it something that you cook daily? If it's occasional, maybe you could get a small butane gas burner or something equivalent?

I assume you make non-roasted dishes as well? I’d like to say the majority of dishes don’t need a flame - but I’m sure you would provide a list of exceptions.

Portable induction stoves were used in a few kitchens I've worked in, but as a supplementary tool, e.g., the pastry guy needs to make jam while the line is really busy.

The main thing that makes electric stoves hard for a professional kitchen is ultimately speed and space. You need every single burner during a rush, and you need to be reacting quick, and there is usually very limited space. If I need to stop the heat on my pan, I need to stop it now. An electric top requires you to actually move the pan off the burner to somewhere else, but good luck finding a spot without butting in on the garde manger or grill guy. A gas stove offers the flexibility of being able to leave food there until its ready to plate.

Not to invalidate your point (because I have never made rotis) but this suspiciously sounds like you need better cookware.

If you’re talking about roti flatbread. It’s always cooked on a flat surface so gas/electric has 0 influence on it.

Should legislation include science and fact-less personal preference?