Nutritional Value Preservation in Cooking Essay

Cooking is often defined as the application of heat to food products in which after the process, improvements in taste, visual, appearance, texture and aroma is attained prior to consumption. Cooking in food establishments and other food service facilities are often done by chefs or cooks. Cooks usually focus on making the food palatable and appealing to consumers. It is common to sacrifice the nutritional aspects of food preparation to attain the maximum satisfaction of the diners and create very appetizing courses for the sake of culinary arts. The twist of preparing very complex meals in terms of cooking method and expected taste output is the opportunity cost of nutritional value of the meal being prepared. Array of reasons suspend upon the discussion of nutrient conservation in cooking. The concepts of temperature, time, total surface area exposed and certain cooking techniques interplay for the betterment of retaining the nutrient content of the meals being prepared. Chefs of today’s cooking era should consider the nutritional content of the foods they are preparing for the aims of giving delicious and nutritious foods in their customers. Necessity of Nutrient Preservation in Cooking The food items being cooked undergo physical and chemical changes that opt to alter the nutrient content of the food. And the current trend leads to a lesser nutritional content because of the present practices. It is important to preserve nutrient content of the food to provide the diners a better quality of food in terms of nutrient content. This will also provide a help on the campaign for a healthier society. Moreover the nutrient content of the food item would not be put into waste. Hospital cooks should focus more on the preservation of nutrients for the reason that the patients inside the hospital need more nutrients for faster recovery. The patients with specific nutritional deficiencies also require specific amount of nutrient in such way, the dietary departments of the hospitals compute the diet of these patients but if the cooking process is not that nutrient conserving, the computations of the dietitians as well as the plan and time frame of dealing with the patient will be lost. The Techniques and Concepts for Preserving Nutrients in Cooking Cooking has an ample ways to preserve the nutrient contents. These vary from controlling the temperature, managing the time, using the right portion sizes and some techniques in food preparation. This is necessary for the conservation of the nutrients. Time and Temperature effects on the nutrients upon cooking The temperature greatly affects the nutrient content of the food as stated by the NutritionData. com. The trend is that higher temperature, the greater the loss of nutrients. Morris stated that blanching spinach can cause for the loss of 80% of amino acids and blanching peas will result into loss of 26% vitamin C. Therefore applying greater amount of heat will significantly increase the loss of vitamins. The time required to cook the food item is also directly proportional to the nutrient loss. As stated by Mateljan, there would be a greater loss if the cooking time is longer therefore cooks can lessen nutrient losses by shortening cooking time and lowering cooking temperature. The Total Surface area exposed Bastin stated that greater the surface area exposed, the greater the nutrient loss. This is according to Bridge. The smaller cut of vegetables serves as the greater surface thus more nutrients are exposed and greater loss will carry on. Thus chefs should master the art of bigger cuts to food portions. Bigger cuts have a relative smaller total surface area exposed. Amount of Water The amount of water is directly related to the nutrient loss. As water increases with respect to the meal portion, there would be a greater chance of more nutrient loss. This is due to the fact that water has more space to accept nutrient molecules thus more water means more losses in terms of nutrients. Chefs should try to concentrate on decreasing the water content of every course they are preparing to conserve nutrients. Washing Methods Washing food items after peeling will cause the lost of nutrients. It is necessary to wash first and then peel. After washing carefully, the food item can be peeled. The logic behind this sequence is that upon peeling, water labile nutrients such as Vitamin B will tend to go with water as the water runs over the surface of the peeled food item. The necessity for cooks to practice washing first before peeling is great to avoid further loss of nutrients. Cooking for the betterment of the nutritional status of the society The combination of the techniques and the processes will be a great tool to efficiently utilize the nutrient content of the food. Such practices will provide number of individual more nutritious food which in turn can support the reputation of the cooks for including nutritious and delicious foods in their menu. Cooks having this knowledge can provide nutritious food for the improvement of his diners’ health.