Why do we cook food?
We cook food to make it softer, yummier, and safer to eat.
Pip’s answer
- We cook food to make it softer, yummier, and safer to eat.
- Heat makes tiny bits inside food wiggle fast, so hard food turns soft.
- Cooking heat also chases away tiny germs we can't see.
- Ooh, people have cooked food over fires for a very, very long time!
For grown-ups
Cooking uses heat to soften food, change its flavor and make some nutrients easier to digest. Heat also kills harmful bacteria and parasites, making food safer. Humans have used fire to cook for hundreds of thousands of years.
Ask your child: What's a food that tastes completely different cooked and raw?
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- 🧀Why does cheese have holes?
- 🌶️Why are peppers spicy?
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