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Pakistani food — healthy or unhealthy?
Many peoples consider Pakistani food as unhealthy. To an extent it is correct due to the use of plenty of spices and too much oil in the typically prepared foods like korma, karahi etc. but unknowingly our methods of cooking provide us a kind of protection. As far as microbiology is concerned the spices used in the preparation of foods has an antimicrobial action as it helps to reduce the microbial flora. Besides this the method of cooking that is the food being exposed to a high temperature for a long time, for several minutes and in some cases more than one hour also provide the same benefit. Too much heating not only sterilize the food but also help to reduce the microbial load. Nowadays the use of pressure cookers is very common in our country. These pressure cookers work on the principle of steam under pressure, a method of sterilization for a specific time and temperature. It is correct that we didn’t consider a specific temperature in case of daily use of pressure cookers but it effects to some extent and reduces the number of micro-organisms present inside the food.
Now definitely a question arises in our minds that too much heating may alter the quality of food. It may denature the proteins present in raw food, could destroy vitamins, etc. This is correct to a certain extent but it depends upon the type of food, some foods require lesser heating as compared to others. For instance, if vegetables are cooked as much as meat it will greatly affect their nutrition value. There are some processes like canning, pasteurization, etc. which are internationally approved. As pasteurization of milk could eliminate the pathogens without destroying the quality of milk but these processes could not be achieved at home and we just boil the milk to eliminate not all but most of organisms. We should think about how we could increase the benefits and reduce the harms of the food that we consume. Happy eating!
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