Cookware: Green & Healthy

Let me recommend "Dangers of Cookware, Safe Alternatives" by Melissa Breyer, a nice article on green & healthy cookware. At home, we cook a lot because it's cheap and fun, but a careful selection of cookware can avoid long-run problems.

Dangers of Cookware, Safe Alternatives

"As anyone with a bird in the house can attest, non-stick cookware can be lethal to flying friends – even DuPont, Teflon’s maker, has a brochure about not using non-stick cookware near birds.

And although DuPont promises that Teflon is safe for humans, the whole canary-in-the-coalmine scenario is hard to ignore. If those toxic Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) fumes can kill birds in a few minutes, what can they do to us?

...Another concern is straight aluminum. Aluminum conducts heat beautifully, but direct contact with food is undesirable. It’s a soft and highly reactive metal that can leach into food, especially when acidic ingredients are cooked and stored. For example, tomato sauce has been shown to contain 3-6 mg aluminum (per 100 g serving) after cooking in aluminum pans–ingesting aluminum may be linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Proponents of aluminum cookware say it’s debatable how many aluminum molecules get into food, but many scientists and doctors say it’s a serious health risk.

So … here are the cookware materials that are safe to use:" Read More here

I love my cast-iron pan. It needs to be used with skill, but that's o.k. ... I eat my mistakes!