Reasons for cooking food

Reasons for cooking food

It is important to cook our food for the following reasons:
1. Cooking makes food easier to eat.
2. It makes food more appetizing and palatable.
3. It makes food easier to digest.
4. It makes food safe to eat. Cooking destroys many harmful micro-organisms or germs in the food.
5. Some foods keep longer when cooked. This means that cooking helps to preserve food.
6. Cooking improves the appearance of food.
7. It improves the taste of food.

Method of cooking food

There are different ways of cooking food. The same food can be cooked by different methods. Each method can give the food a different taste, texture and appearance. These methods include: boiling, stewing, steaming, baking, frying, roasting and grilling. Each method had both advantages and disadvantages.

1. Boiling: This is the process of cooking food in boiling water until it is tender. Many food can be boiled for example yam, rice, beans, meat, plantain ( a tropical vegetable) etc.

Advantages of boiling

- It is an easy and quick method is cooking.
- it makes food soft and easy to digest. It is therefore a suitable method for cooking food for children, invalids, convalescents and the aged.
- many foods can be cooked by boiling.

Disadvantages of boiling

• some food nutrients for example water-soluble vitamins can be lost in the boiling water.
• the process of boiling food may require more time than the expected, especially if the meals to be prepare are rice and beans, with respect to the other methods of cooking.
• it is likely to not know how the food is mostly if the homemaker is using the pressure cooker and food is likely to get overdone.