Why does food need to be cooked? Why not just eat it raw?

Question

This is for our school assignment. Why does food need to be cooked? Why not just eat it raw? I just need the reasons. Please and thanks so much. :)

Answer 1

there is a raw food movement up and coming in USA... They dont eat raw meat however, more of a vegetarian diet, but they do eat raw veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, pulses, etc.. Everything is raw...

Answer 2

A couple of things :
The bacteria argument is only half right .Food-borne illness comes in two basic varieties : food infection which can be cooked out and food intoxication which can never be cooked out .
Think of cooking as a form of pre-digestion .Just because food product A contains nutrients x,y, &z does not necessarily mean that your body can get access to them and use them. The process of cooking makes those nutrients more readily available.
An example;
A pot roast is tradionally a cut from the beef shoulder. Because it's from the shoulder it moves a lot -[which makes it tough ] it contains several different muscles, lots of fat and connective tissue -aka gristle and if handled wrong is basically inedible
Connective tissue is made up 2 proteins- elastin and collagen.
If eaten raw those protein are basically indigestible .
However if that chuck roast is properly cooked using method called braising then the tough muscle fibers of the meat will become tender , the connective tissue will break down and become this beautful gelatin that will be part of the sauce that you will serve with your pot roast.
The end result of that process is that nutrients that had been previously unavailable to your body are now available for use.

Answer 3

There was a time when people did not cook their foods. They ate even raw meat. Now it's not like that. People have acquainted eating like that. Now it is very difficult to eat like that. First the tongue, next the digestion. Though you can eat raw vegetables, you can't eat raw meat. For this, you must have practiced since childhood. When cooking meat, it is not only sweet but also clean. The disease spreading bacterias die and make the food good. This is also applicable for vegetables but only a little.

Answer 4

I've seen arguments for both raw and cooked.

The reasons given for cooking food is:
1. It makes digestion easier
2. It kills parasites
3. Some foods cannot be digested properly raw eg rice, potato
4. Some foods are nutritionally enhanced through cooking - for example cooking tomatoes releases lycopene so that it can be absorbed more easily.

Olives are bitter unless cured; Eggplants are simply too fibrous unless softened by heat; potatoes are starchy unless the proteins are heated.

Answer 5

You could eat your food raw, assuming you ate it right away. But because most of us don't have cows in our backyards (and, really, because most of us PREFER cooked meat), we have to cook it. Raw food is only good for so long. Because they have to ship it and store it and wait for people to buy it, it gives bacteria a chance to grow. Cooking kills the bacteria. Aside from meat, anything else you cook can be eaten raw, it's really just a matter of prefernece.

(To the person who mentioned TV dinners....those aren't "raw", they're frozen.)

Answer 6

Ultimate Raw Food Diet : http://www.RawFoodHappy.com/Support

Answer 7

Well there are a few reasons. Depends on how you want to look at it.

With western thinking, you cook foods to kill off bacteria.

With eastern thinking, you cook food to add Qi, or energy.

See, when you eat raw food, it takes life force away from your body to heat it up, process, and digest it.

Where as with cooked food, it is easy for the body to digest, and adds energy to your body.

Answer 8

The only reason to cook food is if you are eating meat. Vegetables and fruits do not need to be cooked.
One plus for cooking, however, is that it kills bacteria. Think "e.coli"

Answer 9

as in raw foods there will be presence of bacteria . to kill that it is necessary to cook the food and cooking food also makes the food tasty

Answer 10

Because no one really likes the taste of raw beef, chicken, turkey, pork. Because sushi s****. Because frozen TV dinners aren't that tasty even after defrosting without being cooked. Because a lot of people really enjoy warm/hot food for emotional reasons.