Food economics and convienience

Convienience foods are used to shorten the time of meal preparation at home.Some foods can be eaten immediately or after adding water,heating or thawing;canned soup and frozen dinners are two examples.Food technology has made conveinience foods possible , they are so much a party of our lives that we dont stop think about the time when they were not available. Why do people use convienence foods -busy schedules -quick meal -easy to fix -lifestyle -time saved Changes in food consuption There are numerous reasons why one may change their food consumption and the following are some of the reasons; -diet and health concerns -disposable income income plethora of new products on the market -advertising campaings Availability and use of convienience food Convienience foods may defined as fully or partially prepared foods for which prepared time, culinaryskills or energy use have been transfered from the consumer kitchen to the food processor and distributor.Other names for these types of foods are service ready, ready prepared or efficiency foods.Plate waste food left on the plate by individual dinners, accounts for a significant portion of total food loss.Storage loss-this may occur in different stages of handling and preparation.Prepation loss additional waste may occur during preparations as a result of discarding edible portions of the food before cooking.

Preparing food

Meat and cookery Meat is a valuable supplier of B-groups vitamins, minerals such as iron and proteins 15-20 percent which helps maintains our immune system and growth and repair of tissues. How meat changes during cooking Muscle proteins shrink and moisture is lost and therefore an appropriate cooking method can help achieve tenderness and juicices.The cooking method you use depends on; -the natural tenderness of the meat cut -the amount and type of connective tissue -the leanness opf the meat -size and thickness of the cut of meat Aims of cooking meat -colour changes -connective tissue softens -searing develops color and flavour -develops or improves flavour,color,aroma makes it delicious or appetising to eat makes it easier to digest makes it safe to eat Meat and nutrients Fats varies between 15-25 percent; a certain amount of fat is desirable for the following reasons; -juiciness -terderness -flavour carbohydrates only found in the liver and water makes up to 75% of the muscle tissue.toomuch moisture loss means dry meat, loss of weight and loss of profit.

Food sanitation

Food service personnel must practise sanitation to protect the health of people as good personel hygiene is critical measure against food borne illness. and to establish a systematic approach to training and supervising workers.Legal obligation-local goverment agencies set regulations and standards to protect the public from food borne ilness. Clean-free oil visible soil Sanitize-reduce the number of micro-organisms in food service we do not sterilize food contact surfaces Spoilage-damage to the edible quality of food, meat that is unsafe to eat will not always smell or taste spoiled. Factirs that contribute to food borne disease -Cross -contamination between raw and cooked and or ready to eat foods -Inadequate re-heating of potentially hazardous foods -Food left in the temperature danger zone too long -Raw, contaminated ingredients used without further cooking -Food prepared too far in advance -Infected food handlers and poor work habits -Toxic metals -Detergents Layers of protection-prevent layers food borne ilness by enforcing protection -Personal hygiene and work habits -Time and temperature disciple -Proper cleaning and sanitation

food storage

Food storage is both a traditional domestic skill and is important industrially.Transport and storing of food as well as timely delivery to customers is important in order to secure the procurement of food.Food is stored by almost every human society and by animals.Storing of food has several main purposes; -storage of harvested and processed plant and animal food products for distribution to customers Enabling a better balanced diet throughout the year -Reducing kitchen waste by preserving unused or uneaten food for late use -Preserving pantry food, such as spices or dry ingredients like rice and flour,for eventual use in cooking Preparedness for catastrophes,emergencies and periods of food scarity or famine Religious reasons Protection from animals or theft Types of food storage Domestic food storage consits of freezers and thawing food,refrigeration,storing oils and fats Dry storage of foods include vegetables,grain,spices,herbs and meat Commercial food logistic Grain and beans are stored in fall grain elevantors, is almost always at a rail head near of production.The grain is shipped to a final user hopper cars.In the former was sovient union, where harvest was poorly controlled grain suppress mold and insects.

Other health issues related to cooking

 Cooking dairy products may reduce aprotective effect against colon cancer.Researchers suggest that ingesting uncooked or unpasteurized dairy products may reduce the risk of coloretal cancer.Mice and rats may reduce fed uncooked sunrose, casein and beef tallow had one-third to one-fifth the administration of the united states, health benefits claimed by raw milk advocates do not exist.The small quantities of antibodies in milk are not absorbed in the human raw milk contains an anti-arthritis factor or that it enhances resistance to other diseases.Heating sugars with proteins or fats can produce advanced glycation end products.These have been linked to ageing and health conditions such as diabetes and causing obesity.Deep fried food in resturants may contain high level of trans fat which is known to increase level of low-density lopoprotein that may increase risk of heart diseases and other conditions.However, many fast food chains have switched to trans-fat free alternatives for deep frying.

Effects on nutritional contect of food

Proponents of raw foodism argue that cooking food increases the risks of some of the dertrimental effects on foo or health.They point out during cooking of vegetables and fruit containing vitamin C is the skin, however research has shown that in the specific case of caratenoids a greater proportion is absorbed from cooked vegetables than raw vegetables.German research in 2003 shoed that significant benefits in reducing breast cancer risk when large amounts of raw vegetables matter are included in the diet.The authours attribute some of the this effect to heat-labiler phytonutrients.Sulforaphane, a glucosinate breakdown products, which may be found in vegetables such as broccoil, has been shown to be protective against prostate cancer, however much of it is destroyed when the vegetable is boiled.

Food safety

Cooking prevent many food borne illness that would otherwise occur if the food was eaten raw.When heat is used in the preparation of food, it can kill or inactivate harmful organism, such as bacteria and viruses, as well as various parasites such as tapeworms and toxoplasma gondii.Food poisoning and other illness from uncooked or poorly prepared food may be caused by bacteria such as pathogenic straits of Estherichia coli, salmonella typhimurium and campylobacter, viruses such as noroviruses and protozoa such as Entamoeba histolytia.Parasites may be introduced through salad, meat that is uncooked or done rare and unboiled water. The sterilizing effect of cooking depends on temperature,cooking time and techinique used.However, some bacteria such as clostridium botulinum or bacillus cereus can form spores that survive cooking, which then germinate and regrow after the food has cooled.It is therefore recommeded that cooked food shoul not be reheated more than once to avoid repeated growth that allow the bacteria to proliferate to dangerous levels.Cooking also increases the digestibility of some foods because many foods such as grains, are inedible when raw and some are poisonous.For example, kidney beans are toxic when raw or improperly cooked due to the presence of phytohaemogglutin, which can be inactivated after cooking for atleast ten minutes at 100 degeree celcius.A slow cooker however maynot reach the desired temperatures and cases of poisoning from red beans cooked in a slow cooker have been reported.Other considerations for cooking include yhe separation, handling and stororage of food.Food should not be stored in temperatures which range from 40-140 degree celcius.Washing of hands and surfaces especially when handling foods reduces the risk of illness due to contaminated cooking implements.

Methods of cooking

There many methods of cooking , most of which have been known sice antiquity.These include baking, roasting, frying grilling, bar barcecuing, smoking, boiling, steaming and braising. A more recent innnovation in microwaving, various methods use differing levels of heat and moisture and vary in cooking time.The method chosen greatly affects the end results because some foods are more appropriate to some methods than offers.Some major hot cooking techniques include; Roasting-barbecuing,grilling,broiling,rotisserie scaring baking-baking blind,flash baking Boiling-boling, blanching, braising,coddling,double steaming,infusion,poaching.pressure cooking,simmering,smothering Frying-deep frying,hotsalt frying, hot sand frying,pan frying,pressure frying,sautering,stir frying. Steaming works by boiling water continusioly,causing it to vaporite into steam, the steam then carries heat to the nearby food, thus cooking the food.By many it is considered a healthy form of cooking, holding nutrients within the vegetable or meat being cooked. Smoking is the process of flavouring,cooking or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering materials, most often wood.

Meaning of cooking

Cooking or cookery is the art of preaparing food for consumption with the use of heat.Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental economic and cultural trends.The way that chemical reactions without the presence of heat ,most notably with ceviche. Preaparing foods with heat or fire is an activity unique to humans, and scientists believe that advert of cooking played on important role in human evalotion.Most anthropologists believe that cooking fires first developed around 250, 000 years ago.The expansion of agricultere, commerce, trade and transportation between civilisation in different regions offered cooks many new ingredients.New invention and technology such as pottery for holding and boiling water, expanded cooking techniques.Some morden cooks apply advanced scientific to food prepation to further enhance the flavour of the dish served.Most ingredients in cooking are derived from living organisms.Vegetables, fruits,grains and nuts as well as herbs and spices come from plants, while meat ,eggs and dairy products come from animals.Mushrooms and the yeast used in baking are kings of fungi.Cooks also use water and minerals such as salt.Cooks can also involves a manipulation of the chemical properties of these molecules .Naturally occuring ingredients contain varriours amounts of moiecules called proteins,carbohydrates and fats.They also contain water and mineral.Cooking involves a manipulation of the chemical properties of these molecules.

How to cook Delele

Delele is Zimbabwean and north-eastern Botswana dish made from a local plant of the same name, and often eaten with sadza.The English word for delele is okra.It is prepared with baking soda and well known for its simply texture.Delele can be dried before cooking, but more frequently it is cooked fresh.Delele known as one of the traditional meals for Bakalaka.Delele is good because is vegetable as provide vitamins in the body which protect the body from being affected by some of the diseases. RECIPE FORB DELELE 1 cup of dried or fresh delele pinch of bicarbonate of soda 2 cups of water pinch of salt COOKING METHOD 1 Boil two cups of water and bicarbonate of soda and delele and cook for 10 minutes. Do not put the lid because it will boil over the pot Add the pinch of salt simmer for 2 minutes.You can also add a pinch of pepper. serve with bogobe jwa mabele o mealie meal