Even heat distribution and effeciency are things that cooks all over the world have obsessed over for as long as people have been putting food on the table. In the past 50 years mass production methods and metallurgical advances have resulted in pots and pans that are composites that combine the best advantages of each metal to produce products that have none of the weaknesses of any of them.

Its all been discussed many times by engineers that also cook, and is THE reason there's clad cookware on the market. http://www.cookingforengineers.com/a...ls-of-Cookware

So far I've never found any light-weight cookware specifically designed for camping that doesn't throw all that away and prioritize light weight at the expense of cooking performance. Exactly like cheap, thin kitchen pots and pans, it warps, burns food, loses any non-stick finish rapidly, and in the long run is most suitable only for boiling water. Thats ot just my opinion - you'll find lots of comments like that in reviews on outdoor sites like MEC or on some of the consumer reports publications.

So ultimately everything depends on priorities. People who are photography fanatics are going to pack a dslr and a bunch of lenses - regardless of what it weighs. People who feel the need to log everything online are going to pack a laptop, spare batteries, a charging unit, and more electronic paraphernalia than some others own. People who are obcessed about their bike are going to pack 20 lbs of tools and spare parts they'll probably never use. It happens - I've seen it all the time on the road. Some people insist on packing a gun (wonder how much THAT weighs!)

Point being - they went anyway - probably had a good trip and a lot of fun. Maybe they carried more than they should have - maybe they took things I wouldn't have. Why should any of that matter? Personally when I look back - I think about the places I got to see and some of the people I met. Don't ever remember looking back and agonizing over whether I would have had a better time if my load was a pound lighter or if I didn't have 'that extra two ounces of fuel'.

But YMMV and of course different things keep different people awake at night.