I still have not figured out what the exact term for this system is in English.  Can someone help me out?

In any case, it’s genius.  So simple.  Even simpler than the Humdinger system .

Basically, the "Marmite Norvegienne" is an insulating system (like a thermos) that you put your hot cooking pot in to retain heat (and therefore reduce energy needed for cooking and/or keeping your food hot).

This sort of system is especially useful in communities where energy sources for cooking are limited.  But it’s such a simple tool – that everyone could and should use.

For me, sometimes when I make soup for myself, I have a tendency to eat one small bowl at a time over a long period of time (maybe 2 hours).  And even after 30 minutes of cooling, I find myself "reheating" the soup to have it nice and hot.

I hope to build a "marmite norvegienne" when I move back to the US.  A simple design is a woodbox lined with an insulator like a wool blanket.

I'm not sure how to make sure the system stays dry though.  I will keep reading up on it.

Again – it’s so simple!  But as someone said on one of these sites I read about referring to the Marmite,

"Les choses les plus simples ne sont pas forcément celles qu’on adopte en premier... "

in other words,

"The simplest things are not necessarily those that we adopt initially"

Thanks Antoine for the information.

Further reading (I apologize, the links are all in french):

http://fr.ekopedia.org/Marmite_norv%C3%A9gienne

http://www.cap-senegal.com/blog/une-marmite-norvegienne-en-afrique-par-julmar-incorporated/

http://bio.ouvaton.org/dotclear/index.php?post/2009/08/20/Marmite-norvegienne-%3A-essayee-et-adoptee