JoeGoldfarb.com

Microwave ovens are convenient pieces of cooking equipment which have revolutionized the modern kitchen. Popularity of these ovens began in the 1970’s and are now found in 90% of American homes. The microwave oven has become a staple in our technologically dependent lifestyles. Wherever we choose to eat, whether at a home or an eatery, there likely is a microwave oven reheating or cooking food. Despite it’s omnipresence in American society, there are several issue demanding a closer inspection into whether this common kitchen appliance is worthy of such a dominant role in our lives. One of which — the destruction of nutrients from “nuking” food — will be covered here.

pizza nuking child

Since being a child I found certain foods such as old pizza tasting better when reheated in a conventional oven rather than the faster, more convenient, microwave oven. Water boiled from the inside of the pizza condensed on the pizza’s surface which created poor texture and taste. Heated pizza in an electric or gas oven evaporated the water and made the pizza dry and crispy, not wet and soggy. Regardless of this major difference in a pizza’s taste and texture depending on the cooking source, I noticed other subtle taste differences of microwaved food from it’s conventionally heated food counterpart. However, the minor changes in texture and taste where not enough for me to toss the techno oven. Over the last ten years i have used a microwave oven to warm water for tea or oatmeal, heating/thawing various foods like pizza and sausages and making popcorn. Rarely did i use a microwave oven for any other food.

how i causally became microwave free

Almost three years ago i moved from an apartment which provided a built in microwave to a home which did not. Even though these ovens are now inexpensive, I never got around to buying one. Perhaps two years ago while at a grocery store around midnight, i found some TV dinners that were on sale at fifty percent off. Maybe for the first time in my life i bought several frozen dinners. Not owning a microwave oven, a unique challenge formed right in front of me: how do i cook a frozen, pre-made dinner contained in plastic without having to break down and buy a cheap microwave? I tried two methods of cooking my food. The first was to cook by floating the food in a container in boiling water on the stove top and the other by leaving it outside in the summer sun. Both methods were a poor replacement for a microwave oven (for reasons of inefficiency i do not use the conventional oven). So i stopped the frozen food dinner experiment and continued on with my life microwave free. For tea I boil water on the stove. Sometimes i warm water in the coffee maker. The only thing i miss about owning a microwave oven is buttery, salty popcorn. And yes, I tried to make microwave popcorn without a microwave oven, but i will save that smoke-filled story for another time.

nuking is not nutritional

As I sit here eating raw cauliflower I am reminded of the negative effects microwaving fruits and vegetables cause to their nutritional content. A microwave oven operates by emitting dense, short waves of energy to excite water molecules. When water molecules become excited, they twist and shout and break bonds with neighboring molecules freeing themselves to become water vapor. This behavior can alter, weaken, and destroy chemical structures. Evidently, other molecules become excited as well. Vitamin B-12 breaks down when microwaved (click for research paper). Also, a study has shown microwaving broccoli destroy flavonoids (click for study source). Flavonoids are chemicals that are abundant in fruits and vegetables. The darker and richer the color translates to a greater abundance of flavonoids. For example, broccoli, parsley and blueberries are rich in these healthy, nutritional chemicals. Flavonoids possess profound health benefits of all sorts, including obscure effects like the improvement of asthma and lung functions by ingesting apples, to the big health benefit — preventing cancer — with broccoli sprouts. Flavonoids, in my opinion are the single, most important reason to eat fruits and vegetables raw. There are so many different flavonoids in a single fresh apple that we have only begun to scratch the surface of their myriad forms and benefits. Simply put, microwaving vegetables and fruits eliminates their most important health benefits by the destruction of natural flavonoids and vitamins. It certainly is possible that similar negative consequences from the alteration and breaking of the chemical structures that make up our food, caused by microwaving, will eventually surface. Keep in mind that microwave ovens have been on sale in the united states for fifty years and are, by all means, safe to use, but not the wisest choice.

reflection

After living nearly three years without a microwave oven, I do not see any reason to acquire one in the future. My life has actually become simpler without one, not more inconvenienced. I eat one warm meal of tofu a day cooked on the stove and fill the rest the day with raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and health bars. Furthermore, without living microwave free for nearly three years i might never have learned about the destructive effects microwave ovens have on our food and, consequently, our health. That in itself has made this nearly three year experience worthwhile.

Now you live without a microwave for a week, or two, or three. Replace those frozen foods with healthier choices or raw food items. Instead of warming up vegetables, eat them raw like i do. Try to compare the taste between foods cooked on the stove to those same foods cooked with microwaves like i have in the past with pizza. Although we may gain time in our life using these modern ovens, I have found satisfaction in my life without one. Is it time to remind ourselves that our ancestors got by just fine without one too? and so i challenge you to not nuke your food, but be microwave free instead.