"I'd argue that the most crucial of all was the gas oven, for saving
millions from the smoke and indoor air pollution associated with open-fire
cookery. The World Health Organization estimates that open cooking fires
still kill 1.5 million people every year in the developing world, mostly
from respiratory disease. The emergence of gas stoves at the end of the 19th
century must have saved millions of lives.



What recent widespread change in how we cook or eat might, 100 years from
now, be seen as having unintended consequences?

From the point of view of the average home cook, I'd argue that the
developments in mechanical food processing of the past hundred years --
whether it's a Cuisinart on the worktop or the fact that we can purchase
ready-powdered sugar and ready-ground meat -- have been truly liberating.
They have freed up hours of time and spared so much pain and labor.

But we are already seeing unintended consequences in eating a diet
consisting of food that undergoes so much more processing than it did in the
past. Various studies have suggested that the current obesity crisis is
partly caused by the degree to which food has been processed before we eat
it. Rats fed on soft food pellets gained more weight than those eating hard
pellets, even though the calories were identical. This is a clear example of
how food technology can impact health. When we eat chewier, less processed
foods -- a raw apple rather than apple puree -- it takes us more energy to
digest them, so we receive less energy.

The aim of mechanized food processing was to save time and effort, but an
unintended consequence may be contributing to the worst public health crisis
of this generation. Most cooking technologies, from fire onwards, have
attempted to make the job of eating easier. Maybe in the future we need to
design some that make it a bit slower and more challenging again -- or at
the very least ones that require a bit of jaw action.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/ar...ors_picks=true

On 1/22/13 9:10 AM, Janet wrote:
>
> My vote would be for refrigeration.

Mine too. Without refrigeration, the planet would not be so disastrously
overpopulated.

-- Larry

On Tuesday, January 22, 2013 7:55:43 AM UTC-6, Somebody wrote:
> "I'd argue that the most crucial of all was the gas oven, for saving
>
> millions from the smoke and indoor air pollution associated with open-fire
>
> cookery.

People who are not stupid quit using hydrogenated vegetable shortening and margarine.

--Bryan

I will vote also for refrigeration. The invention of the cook stove was a bad day for the human race. Cooked food has killed untold millions and continues to do so.