Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Microwaves vs. stoves

[Racheli Gai (jnpalme]

>From Racheli, Sonora Cohousing

In certain cases cooking improves food.
Examples:
According to Andrew Weil, eating cooked cabbage is better
than eating raw cabbage (I think some undesirable chemicals
get eliminated).  In the case of carrots - cooking makes more of the
carotines available/digestible.
Also according to Weil, white mushrooms contain 3 carcinogens, 2 of which
get destroyed by cooking.

I agree with Howard that the issue isn't the fact that the 
chemical structure changes, but rather: what is the nature
of such changes.

R.



>> I recently read an article stating that there has been evidence that
>> microwaving changes the chemical structure of food (although no evidence that
>> this has any detrimental effects) but it's weird and sounds NOT GOOD to me.

>By itself this means nothing.  ALL COOKING CHANGES THE CHEMICAL STRUCTURE
>OF FOOD.  When meat changes from translucent red to opaque brown, or
>steamed broccoli changes from green to bright green to olive drab, these
>are are due to chemical changes.  Sometimes it is due to proteins being
>"denatured" (i.e. unfolded by heat energy and refolded into a different
>configuration). Sometimes it can be due to change in oxidation state from
>reaction with the oxygen in air.

>So the question isn't whether microwave cooking changes the chemical
>structure of food.  Of course it does!  The question is whether it
>changes it in a way that is different from, and better or worse than, the
>way other kinds of cooking change it.

>For some kinds of cooking, microwave is probably much safer.  The black
>or burned surface of broiled or barbecued food is full of carcinogens. 
>Fried foods add a lot of unnecessary fat.

>On the other hands, steaming or cooking things over a double-boiler might
>be safer, because the temperature is more tightly controlled.  Steaming
>can leach out some water-soluble vitamins though ...

>       Howard A. Landman


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