Aims and Objectives of Cooking
The main intention of cooking is to see that the food cooked undergoes a physical change, sometimes a chemical change and is acceptable.
A physical change occurs when a substance changes its form, color, size, but still remains the same substance, for example water changes into ice, A chemical change occurs when a substance changes its form, color or size combining so as to form an entirely new body, for example milk becoming curd.
Objectives of Cooking:
• Cooking partially sterilizes food
• Cooking helps to make food more digestible
• Cooking increases palatability.
• Cooking introduces variety
• Cooking increases availability of food
• Cooking concentrates nutrients
• A physical change & chemical change
• Cooking partially sterilizes food
Above 40 C (104 F) the growth of bacteria falls off rapidly and in generally it ceases above 45 C (113 F). Non-spring bacteria are killed at temperatures above 60 C (140 F) for varying periods of time, e.g., to make milk safe, it is pasteurized at 63 C (145F) for 30 minutes or at 72 C (161 F) for 15 seconds.
• Cooking helps to make food more digestible
Cooking helps in faster & easy digestion. It makes cooked food get absorbed
by the digestive system and subsequently assimilated by the body. Complex foods
are often split into simpler substances during cooking.
This helps the body to absorb and utilize the food more readily than if consumed in its raw form. This is largely determined in the manner the food is cooked. Cooking breaks, down the cellulose in plant food softens some of the connective tissues of meat, breaks down and gets starches present.
• Cooking increases palatability
It makes food more attractive in' appearance and, therefore, more appetizing.
• Cooking introduces variety
Many different types of dishes can be prepared with the same ingredients. It helps to provide a balanced meal. Different ingredients combined together in one dish make it easier to provide a balanced meal.
• Cooking increases availability of food
Raw egg contains avidin which binds biotin making biotin
unavailable to the body. By cooking, avidin gets denatured and biotin is available to the body.
• Cooking concentrates nutrients
This may be due to removal of moisture or using combination of foods
or due to cooking procedures, e.g. sweets
• A physical change & chemical change
It occurs when a substance changes its form, color or size, but still remains that same substance, like water that changes to ice. A chemical change occurs when a substance changes its form, color or size, combining so as to form an entirely new body, e.g., bone marrow changes its color and milk changes to curd.
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