Assessment of Indian cooking practices and cookwares on nutritional security: A review
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Date
2021-03
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Abstract
Food provides us nutrients and the energy required for growth, reproduction, and maintenance. Energy is required to perform all
voluntary and involuntary activities like digestion, respiration, circulation, carrying out professional, household and recreational
activities. Despite having rich food diversity, we are using only a few items as our staple food. With the adoption of eastern
cooking practices and cookwares, risk of both pre-and post-transitional diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases,
malnutrition, obesity, etc. has increased significantly. Aluminium toxicity and nutrients breakdown has become a common
problem in pressure cooking. To overcome this problem, it is important to shift from the modernized cooking methods to our
traditional cooking practices, i.e., use of earthen cookwares, clay pots and some selected metal utensils, e.g., copper, iron,
brass, etc. It has been shown that earthen, copper, iron, and soapstone cookwares do not leach toxic trace elements into the
food and enhance the sensory qualities without decreasing the food nutrients. Adoption of traditional Indian cooking practices
(such as fermentation, roasting, germination, etc.), cookwares (such as earthen, copper, iron, soapstone, etc.) and increasing
the consumption of healthy diet grains like millets, etc. can easily combat the pre- and post-transition health problems in India,
effectively. This review would provide a deep understanding to the people to decide the best cookware and cooking processes
that will improve their health and provide ample nutritional value to them.