Do you recognize your street, the very street where time flew by when the gang gathered and played their favorite games, or have new buildings changed the landscape so much that your memories are slowly fading?
If you step back in time, even for a moment, you will surely remember your favorite plate from which food simply tasted different, and milk had to be in a specific cup, otherwise, it wouldn't have the same flavor.
Memories from the kitchen
A series of emotions and memories are woven into us precisely through these taste and scent buds, and we must admit, they are usually most active in the kitchen! For centuries, the kitchen has been a place that symbolized connection and togetherness, a note of laughter, a note of struggle, and sometimes disappointment hides in it because, let's be honest, a dish sometimes doesn't turn out as we imagined it would. But whether the experience was good or bad, we would always return to the kitchen. In the kitchen, there was always grandma baking the most delicious cakes, mom trying out a new recipe that day, or dad who decided to "show everyone how to really cook." We saw, felt, and remembered all of this because we spent time there.
What has changed in the kitchen?
However, something was lost along the way. We started spending less time in the kitchen, we started cooking less, everything became extremely fast and efficient. How did this happen?
We're going to blame progress and one pan for that! Let's step back in time again. In the mid-20th century, the non-stick pan took center stage in the kitchen. Presented as the hero of every cooking endeavor, it permeated every household and, under the guise of an efficient, quick, and easy meal, enchanted our minds and allowed us an easy escape from the kitchen. You already know that "easy" isn't always good, and so our pan hides its dark sides. Decades had to pass for us to discover that by introducing easy solutions, we were actually serving plastic on our plates instead of delicious and healthy food.
What brings plastic to our plate is Teflon. Teflon is a synthetic product (plastic) used to coat pans to prevent food from sticking. The development of such pans ranked at the very top of the list when it comes to progress and innovation in cooking. The glitter of non-stick benefits overshadowed the fact that Teflon breaks down above 260 degrees Celsius and releases toxic fumes, causing many people to suffer from so-called Teflon flu. Now, you might think that you don't cook food at such high temperatures, but you certainly use utensils while cooking to stir food, turn meat, or simply prevent the food from burning. It is with such handling of kitchen tools that you leave tiny scratches on the pans, which then release millions of microparticles of plastic that you ingest through food into your body.
Is it worth slowing down after all?
And so, while you quickly and easily prepare a meal that will nourish your body, not noticing all those tiny scratches that have already appeared, you might ask yourself if it's worth returning to cooking in the cookware our grandmothers used? Is it worth dedicating a little more time to preparing food, creating new memories and pleasant recollections, and then, in the end, eating a meal that doesn't contain plastic?
