Why Do We Cook Food?
Introduction
The term cookery, as has been explained, means the preparation of both hot and cold dishes for use as food, as well as the selection of the materials or substances that are to be cooked. The importance of cooking foods by subjecting them to the action of heat has been recognized for ages; and while it is true that there are many foods that appeal to the appetite in their raw state and still others that can be eaten either raw or cooked, there are several reasons why it is desirable to cook food. Every students should be able answer the question why do we cook food after reading this article.
Cooking Food Makes it More Palatable
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| Cook Food to Make it Palatable |
You don't need a silver fork to eat good food.
Cooking Food Make it Digestible.
Another important reason why we cook food is to make it digestible. Without digestion, we will gain little or noting from the food we eat. For instance, the hard grains, such as wheat, rice and the dried vegetables, such as beans, cannot be readily digested unless they are softened by cooking. It is only when we cook food that digestive enzymes can act on it.
But while cooking makes such foods more digestible, it renders others more difficult of digestion, as in the case of eggs. In this case, the degree of digestibility depends somewhat on the cooking method used and the skill of the cook. An egg in an almost liquid form, or when only slightly cooked, as a soft-boiled egg, is more easily digested than when it becomes hardened by cooking. A hard-cooked egg is more digestible than an improperly cooked one, although the degree of hardness may be the same.
Cooking Gives Foods Greater Variety.
The same food may be cooked by various methods and be given very different tastes and appearances; on the other hand, it may be combined with a large number of other foods, so as to increase the variety of the dishes in which it is used. The large number of recipes found in cook books show the attempts that have been made to obtain variety in cooked dishes by the combining of different foods.
Cooking sterilizes foods either partly or completely.
Many foods need partial or complete sterilization for safety. They must be completely sterilized if the germs that produce fermentation or putrefaction and thereby spoil food would be destroyed. This is done when fruits and vegetables are canned for keeping. Foods that are exposed to dust, flies, and improper handling should be thoroughly cooked in order to destroy any pathogenic germs that might be present. By such germs are meant disease-bearing germs. They differ from germs that produce fermentation and putrefaction, or spoiling, and that must in general be considered as a help, for these play an important part in the raising of bread and the preparation of various foods, as is pointed out later.
Cooking develops flavor in many foods
In the case of some vegetables, the flavoring substance is given off in the air by certain methods of cooking and a better flavor is thereby developed.
Reasons why we cook Food (Summary)
- Cooking Food Makes it More Palatable
- Cooking Food Make it Digestible.
- Cooking Gives Foods Greater Variety.
- Cooking sterilizes foods either partly or completely.
- Cooking develops flavor in many food