So much goes into preparing the perfect Thanksgiving spread, we usually begin planning weeks in advance.
From the invites to fighting over if you or your sister get to cook the turkey this year, we have thought of everything.
Or have we? There is one key element to our baking frenzy that is often overlooked with dire consequences.
Don’t let all those natural ingredients, and hours over the stove, go to waste. We should make sure we are choosing cookware that is non-toxic and not leeching dangerous metals into our food.
Non-stick
Many of us think that non-stick cookware didn’t come on the scene until the famous Teflon pans took the world by storm in the 1940’s.
However, to our surprise, ancient Roman pottery has been found with a non-stick residue, which was thought to make meaty stews on about 2,000 years ago, according to Daily Mail.
It was even suggested in an old Roman cookbook titled, De Re Coquinaria
that they used non-stick methods to cut down on washing.
Other experts, according to Mama Natural, think that Mycenaean Greeks used non-stick pans for their bread around 3,000 years ago.
Be forewarned, the non-stick cookware we use today was not crafted by means of clay and oil, but of the chemical polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE as it is called.
An employee from DuPont company stumbled upon the creation, which made its debut in WWII where “it was applied as a corrosion-resistant coating to protect metal equipment used in the handling of radioactive material for the Manhattan Project”, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
There is just something unsettling about using the same chemical we fry our kid’s eggs in the morning, that is used in the making of an atomic bomb.
Non-stick cookware is, also, made with the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which has been linked in studies to “heart attack, stroke, breast cancer, testicular cancer, pancreatic cancer, immune system damage, and pituitary gland damage”, according to Mama Natural.
The Environmental Working Group brings light to six significant studies that “point to risk for heart attack and stroke from exposures to the Teflon chemical.”
The Environmental Protection Agency has not taken heed to the data from studies showing that Teflon can contribute to mammary, testicular, pancreatic, and liver cancers.
Due to the toxic effects chemicals in non-stick cookware have on living organisms, the Food and Drug Administration may be attempting to weed out Teflon in place of cookware proven to be safer.
Aluminum
Buying aluminum cookware is cheap, and it is abundant, making it an affordable and readily available choice.
It is important to know, however, that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reports that high doses of aluminum are dangerous for your health, causing brain and bone diseases.
Alzheimer’s disease has also, been connected with high doses of aluminum. We don’t need Cousin Frank forgetting to bring his famous bean dish next year, because he ate our turkey baked in an aluminum pan year after year.
When we cook in aluminum ware the metal leaches into the food, giving us little doses every time we sit down for dinner.
With aluminum being in several sources most humans consume daily, we don’t need the extra budge towards toxicity.
Copper
This is another metal that can leach into our food when cooked with. Despite its beautiful appearance, it can become an enemy of your health pretty quickly.
Copper is found in many things we use daily, like aluminum, such as our pipes.
If toxicity develops it cause a slew of issues, some of which are heart and kidney failure, liver damage, brain diseases or disorders, and death, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center.
It’s a double whammy when you serve the ale in the new copper mugs you just got to set the tone of the table.
Although it may seem that we have forbidden all the great cookware options, there is more that can give you the culinary experience you had before without the added disease and death.
Using cast iron, glass, stainless steel, ceramic, or stoneware are all considered much safer cookware materials.
Cast iron, enamel covered cast iron, and stoneware add a burst of flavor in the meals after they have been seasoned as well.
So, even though it is extremely frustrating to have half your dinner stuck to the bottom of the pan, choose a pan that won’t give your family more than leftovers to take home after the Thanksgiving feast.
(h/t Mommy Underground)