why do we cook food?

[LHX]

maybe this can serve as a little introduction to the cooking threads

why do we cook food?


food is our body

the food we eat is the material that becomes our body


it is alchemy at its finest
you take a substance
put it in a box
and it becomes something different


from an abstract point of view
the human body has the ability to turn plant life into something that can speak



technically
a body in perfect health and existing in a perfect environment
cooks food on its own
with proper chewing
digestion begins in the mouth and the food is broken down throughout the digestive system


we currently live in an environment that does not really give the opportunity to do this for a couple of reasons
first - being exposed to pollution and a toxic environment can negatively affect the digestive system
second - we have began to depend on certain foods that are difficult for the body to digest
but
with proper preparation
these foods become very useful to the body



basically
cooking is a method of pre-digesting food

instead of digestion beginning in your mouth
you begin the digestion outside your mouth when you begin preparing food

preparation of food takes many forms
the application of heat is the one we are all familiar with

soaking and fermentation of foods like wheat and sprouts is another often used method

when you buy green bananas and let them ripen - this is also a method of cooking
- the only difference is that you dont do anything but wait
- the bananas slowly 'cook' themselves at room temperature



recently
in one of the local newspapers i read an article that claimed that the average meal preparation time has decreased from 6 hours a day in 1900 to barely 20 minutes a day in 2006

this is a symptom of a lot of things in our society

we are using bad techniques to prepare food too quickly

although mot of us cannot see the effects of this right away
we are eating food that is not ready to be digested
or
simply cannot be digested at all

these days
people eat often for the feeling of taste bud stimulation instead of the nourishment that the body really craves

i will clean this up and maybe add more to it later


please add on if you have any insights

peace

[Koolish]

i thought this was common sense, you cook food not only because it tastes better, but because so you don't eat all the parasites and disease that is on the un-cooked animal's flesh.

if you don't want to cook food so you can be some kind of abstract thinker be my guest, but don't blame me when you get food poisoning or whatever. no matter how healthy your body is, un cooked food is not nearly as healthy or safe. why do some people boil water first before they drink it? to get rid of the germs.

now if we're just talking about vegetables, then for the most part a good wash gets rid of the crap off of them, but cooking them makes it taste better. people generally like to eat good tasting food.

[TeknicelStylez]

He didn't say don't cook the food... are you reading the post properly?

[THE W]

i thought this was common sense, you cook food not only because it tastes better, but because so you don't eat all the parasites and disease that is on the un-cooked animal's flesh.

if you don't want to cook food so you can be some kind of abstract thinker be my guest, but don't blame me when you get food poisoning or whatever. no matter how healthy your body is, un cooked food is not nearly as healthy or safe. why do some people boil water first before they drink it? to get rid of the germs.

now if we're just talking about vegetables, then for the most part a good wash gets rid of the crap off of them, but cooking them makes it taste better. people generally like to eat good tasting food.

^^you didnt have to get offensive about the subject but yeah i agree with you.

is the thread starter proposing that that we can eat hamburger meat raw? are you saying that ripened fruit has less nutrients then unriped fruit?

i think the time for cooking has decreased because the advancement of technology has brought about more efficient ways to heat food. things are cooked faster and more efficiently.

[TeknicelStylez]

You guys obviously aren't reading the post properly...

He's stating that by using artificial means of heating the food quickly, we are being inefficient, decreasing the nutrients, not breaking the composition down enough, and increasing the risk of pathogens. He's stating not that we shouldn't cook food, that we should slow cook food. Matter fact, one of the best meals I ever ate in my life, I slow roasted a london broil for like 5 hours on a grill. It was crispy on the outside, and nice and tender on the inside, absolutely delicious...

[THE W]

You guys obviously aren't reading the post properly...

He's stating that by using artificial means of heating the food quickly, we are being inefficient, decreasing the nutrients, not breaking the composition down enough, and increasing the risk of pathogens. He's stating not that we shouldn't cook food, that we should slow cook food. Matter fact, one of the best meals I ever ate in my life, I slow roasted a london broil for like 5 hours on a grill. It was crispy on the outside, and nice and tender on the inside, absolutely delicious...
thank you for breaking that down a bit better. that is true.

[Visionz]

Broccoli taste good even if its just raw. I put it into salads myself. I'm currently in the process of moving away from red meats for the most part. I already don't eat pork and haven't for years. I don't think I'll ever completely move away from beef but me and my girl try to keep it to no more than once a week. We usually eat either chicken, turkey, or salmon and load up on all kinda of fruits and veggies. Most anything that grows out the ground is superfood for your body.

[LHX]

cooking food is very important

it should not be rushed


thanks for the help in clearing that up Tek

[Os3y3ris]

Your analysis of cooking perhaps should've included the real reasons why we cook food. Its not digestion. We cook food, even boil water, to kill anything living inside of it.

[Dough Snatcher]

You go right ahead and eat that half a pound of un-cooked ground beef and then come holla at me about cooking or not cooking food when that tapeworm clears up...;)

(Its sarcasm.)

[Sosa]

im off to mcdonalds

[LHX]

Your analysis of cooking perhaps should've included the real reasons why we cook food. Its not digestion. We cook food, even boil water, to kill anything living inside of it.

we cooked food before we even knew about 'things living in it'

that germ shit is a farce anyway

[LHX]

food seems to draw almost as unreasonable responses as race threads

these are the only types of threads where people post without even reading

[snapple]

in theory we shouldn't, but it doesn't apply for us in the present, too much disesage + contamination etc.....

[LHX]

in theory we shouldn't, but it doesn't apply for us in the present, too much disesage + contamination etc.....

i am seeing the same conclusions

[Os3y3ris]

we cooked food before we even knew about 'things living in it'

But not before we knew it would harm us otherwise. I don't think so anyways.

that germ shit is a farce anyway

Oh? Please elaborate.

in theory we shouldn't, but it doesn't apply for us in the present, too much disesage + contamination etc.....

In the past it was the same.

[LHX]

But not before we knew it would harm us otherwise. I don't think so anyways.



Oh? Please elaborate.



In the past it was the same.

where are you coming from with this stuff bro?

was there domes of smog covering populated areas in the past?



not cooking food doesnt 'harm' us
it is simply that some foods cannot be eaten otherwise


do you know how much bacteria lives in the digestive system?

[Os3y3ris]

was there domes of smog covering populated areas in the past?

Thats got very little to do with the cooking process.

do you know how much bacteria lives in the digestive system?

And should they enter other parts of your body, they'll kill you.

not cooking food doesnt 'harm' us

It does. Even healthy foods and drinks you often can't handle without cooking. Thats why they have you boil your water in the wilderess.

[LHX]

Thats got very little to do with the cooking process.
more than you might think



And should they enter other parts of your body, they'll kill you.

you mean they will cause a reaction


It does. Even healthy foods and drinks you often can't handle without cooking. Thats why they have you boil your water in the wilderess.
in these paranoid times
this is true


if you are thirsty enough
you dont need to boil nothing

[MoT]

if you are thirsty enough
you dont need to boil nothing


the thirst will boil it ...


does any of you think that our organisms react in a different manner (as in more effectively) in life or death situations ? if so what could cause it ?

[TeknicelStylez]

My guess would be, primal instincts kicking in, you react more like an animal than a rational human being.

[Os3y3ris]

more than you might think

No. You can't really cook pollution out of your food.

you mean they will cause a reaction

Yep. One that is potentially fatal. E. Coli is a prime example. Yes, it lives inside you. That does't make it harmless though.

if you are thirsty enough
you dont need to boil nothing

Yes you do. If it would've harmed you without thirst, it will harm you with thirst.

[My First Timbs]

actually we dont technically "have" to cook our food.

before we humans harnessed fire we didnt "cook" our food and we (relatively) did just fine...its just that once fire was harnessed, the unexpected benefit that was quickly realized was that if flesh is touched by fire it becomes alot easier to chew.

of course its alot more complicated than this, but thats the gist of it.

[brown_dogg]

actually we dont technically "have" to cook our food.

before we humans harnessed fire we didnt "cook" our food and we (relatively) did just fine...

most of them died before they could reach 25 years. some sort of contamination or poisoning from food was sometimes the case for the death.

[dollabill]

/( We cook to eat
how hard is that?

[TeknicelStylez]

Why do you post in this section dollabill?

[dollabill]

I'm just bored, man

[TeknicelStylez]

So go to general chat than, people are trying to build here.

[dollabill]

Build what?!

[TeknicelStylez]

Don't play stupid, this is a section for people with intelligent full bodied responses that can bring topics in a positive direction. Not one for 2 sentence answers with no relevance to the topic at hand. If you're bored and you want to have quick convo's the place is General Chat. You can get banned for doing stuff like this.

[LORD NOSE]

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