For healthy living, a healthy environment is just as important as healthy food. To ensure our future generations can “breathe” and live on a healthy planet, we must make changes to our lifestyles and switch to things that are eco-friendly everywhere we can. Choosing “green” cookware is a great step in this direction but can we determine whether a certain cookware is eco-friendly or not? Let’s find out. 

What does eco-friendly cookware really mean? 

Eco-friendly cooking pots and pans are the ones that don't harm the environment at any stage, from the procurement of the raw material to the cooking and even when disposing them. Conventional cookware made from metals or ceramics hardly fit into the definition of ‘eco-friendly’. Why? 

The mining of metal ores, the massive deforestation they cause, their extraction and processing, and the process of making cookware from them – at every stage, produces so many poisons in the form of solid, liquid and gaseous waste which is discarded very carelessly into waterways and land, turning the land into non-cultivable land and the water into poison. The chemicals and metal oxides used in colors, glazes and enamels to make the cookware attractive only make things worse.

Another overlooked factor – the energy consumed at every stage comes from non-renewable sources which means more and more depletion of limited resources. Even after you are done using the cookware, when disposed, they sit in landfill for a very long time! 

Now think of this: everybody needs to cook and eat and there are 7 billion of us! Clearly, switching to an eco-friendly cookware can bring a huge improvement in the planet’s health. Let’s find out what the alternative is: 

100% pure and primary clay is an all-natural material that is time tested and healthy for both the people and the planet. In what ways this natural material can save the planet is explained below: 

100% Eco-friendly in raw material: 

The raw material, pure clay is harvested from the earth’s crust without causing any harm to the environment. No harmful waste is released, and no disruption is caused to the eco balance or wildlife while procuring the raw material. 

100% Eco-friendly pots and pans while in use: 

Cooking in pure clay pots and pans requires less heat and food cooks quickly at lower heat setting – thanks to far infrared heat cooking. Also, the food stays warm in a pure clay pot for 3-4 hours longer so there is no need to re-heat frequently. This saves a lot on the energy consumption of a single household. 

100% Eco-friendly in cleaning and maintenance: 

Cleaning cooking pots usually require toxic soaps or detergents which then contaminate our oceans, but not with pure clay pots. Hand washing with clean water after sprinkling some baking soda, if needed, is enough to do the job. Less toxic soaps in your household’s wastewater – better for the environment. 

100% eco-friendly when disposed: 

At the end of their useful lifecycle which can be decades long, pure clay pots go back to the same earth where they come from – they are 100% biodegradable. 

Miriams Earthen Cookware (MEC) – a pioneering company bringing a change 

MEC is a US based company that has been making pure clay pots and pans for over a decade. Their eco-friendly cookware is on sale through their online store and ships carbon neutral around the globe. Interesting in joining the league of planet-conscious cooks? Head over to MEC Store and order a pure clay pot today!