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Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

theatlantic.com

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Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#331

Post by CalRobert »

armada651 wrote: post #290
MrSkelter wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The precautionary principle plus what we know about heating plastic makes your reticence seem churlish. There are easy, safe alternatives in wood, metal and silicone. There’s no need to risk it.

The problem is that even when there are easy, safe alternatives trying to avoid every little risk in your life will drive you crazy. This is a clear case where a regulator should step in and just ban these black plastic utensils in favor of their safe alternatives. That way you're not just protected from exposure in your own kitchen, but also when joining your friends for dinner.

Sure, but this is pretty low hanging fruit. Moving to only metal and wood spatulas, cooking spoons, etc. has been a pretty cheap and easy switch. I would love to ALSO see regulation, but in the meantime I can at least improve things for myself.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#332

Post by emddudley »

xmodem wrote: post #317
MrSkelter wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The precautionary principle plus what we know about heating plastic makes your reticence seem churlish. There are easy, safe alternatives in wood, metal and silicone. There’s no need to risk it.

Wood is not dishwasher safe, metal will damage the cookware's non-stick coating, which may be worse than the plastic I'm trying to avoid. I guess that leaves silicone.

If we're talking about health and cookware, you're not going to want nonstick cookware.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#333

Post by CalRobert »

xmodem wrote: post #317
MrSkelter wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The precautionary principle plus what we know about heating plastic makes your reticence seem churlish. There are easy, safe alternatives in wood, metal and silicone. There’s no need to risk it.

Wood is not dishwasher safe, metal will damage the cookware's non-stick coating, which may be worse than the plastic I'm trying to avoid. I guess that leaves silicone.

For what it's worth, I stopped using non-stick cookware in favour of carbon steel and haven't missed it.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#334

Post by amanaplanacanal »

nemo44x wrote: post #161
tomtheelder wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have a cast iron skillet, but I mostly stopped using it once I got some carbon steel pans. In my experience they beat cast iron in nearly every way. I only use my cast iron now if I need a huge amount of thermal capacity (like pre-heating it to make pizza on or something) or for the presentation value.

It’s hard to talk to cast iron zealots. They’re usually people that never seriousky cooked before and went from cheap, thin steal pans to cast iron and assume all pans are like the thin pans they had before. Cast iron is fine for certain applications but not many others. I’d fry and egg in one but you can’t make a great matter in one due to the thermal capacity properties they have. Steel lined copper is the king. Bu…

I'm trying to figure out what a "great matter" is meant to be but I can't.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#335

Post by nextlevelwizard »

whoitwas wrote: post #292

After I learned about the harmful effects of Teflon, I became much more cautious about consumption. It's nearly impossible to avoid the toxins when eating out because wax has been replaced with synthetics that leach into food from packaging. Just use metal wood or glass. One thing I'm not aware of is if Pyrex or the other tempered glasses are safe or if they also contain plastic. That would be good to learn.

Does any of this matter in a normal life?

Will I actually see actual difference if I throw away all my cook ware and replace it with non-non-stick ones and wooden utensils?

What about pollutants in the air from car and industry exhaust? Is this cookware worse? Should we first consider moving somewhere else than worry about cookware?

What about just the ingredients you cook with? Is using teflon worse than buying highly processed foods? What about GMO vs non-GMO? What about grass fed/free range vs in-prison-meats? What about vegan vs meat?

What I am trying to say is that it is easy to point to something that is (or even might be) toxic and say that we should fix it, but we have to put things in context. You simply can not be afraid of everything. Like drinking out of plastic vs glass vs metal, I know people who swear that drinking from a plastic cup is about the worst thing you can do, but I have been doing it my whole life and at least aren't dead yet.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#336

Post by mega_dingus »

emddudley wrote: post #332
xmodem wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wood is not dishwasher safe, metal will damage the cookware's non-stick coating, which may be worse than the plastic I'm trying to avoid. I guess that leaves silicone.

If we're talking about health and cookware, you're not going to want nonstick cookware.

Didn't read the whole comment did you?

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#337

Post by driverdan »

MengerSponge wrote: post #95

My Aeropress filter cap is the only remaining black plastic in my kitchen. The Aeropress is pretty much the only plastic that remains in my kitchen. I'd pay good money for a replacement cap made out of white nylon, PMMA, PEEK, etc.

The Aeropress is made in the USA. While not a guarantee it's safe it's much more likely to not contain contaminants.

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#338

Post by stonedge »

xmodem wrote: post #317
MrSkelter wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The precautionary principle plus what we know about heating plastic makes your reticence seem churlish. There are easy, safe alternatives in wood, metal and silicone. There’s no need to risk it.

Wood is not dishwasher safe, metal will damage the cookware's non-stick coating, which may be worse than the plastic I'm trying to avoid. I guess that leaves silicone.

Sincere question - my mom always told me to never put wooden utensils in the dishwasher, but I never got a great answer as to why. I put my wooden spatulas in there. My question is, is it just because it's destructive to the wood? Or is there something else that I should be concerned about?

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#339

Post by lazylizard »

im lost. whats a plastic? silicone is not plastic? why specifically black plastic? which black pigment? all black plastics use the same pigment?which plastic? is black silicone ok? how about rubber? other colors with same flame retardant is ok? or somehow only black (all plastics?) use 1 particular flame retardant?

its strangely specific yet strangely vague?

Re: Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid

#340

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

emddudley wrote: post #332
xmodem wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wood is not dishwasher safe, metal will damage the cookware's non-stick coating, which may be worse than the plastic I'm trying to avoid. I guess that leaves silicone.

If we're talking about health and cookware, you're not going to want nonstick cookware.

It's fine if it's not scratched and you don't overheat it.
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