Cooking

Cooking is the act of applying heat to food in order to prepare it for ingestion. It encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to alter the flavor or digestibility of food. It generally requires the selection, measurement and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure in an effort to achieve the desired result. Factors affecting the final outcome include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and the skill of the individual doing the actual cooking.

The diversity of cooking worldwide is a reflection of the myriad nutritional, aesthetic, agricultural, economic, cultural and religious considerations that impact upon it.

By applying heat to a food it will, usually, though not always, chemically transforms it, thus changing its flavor, texture, appearance, and nutritional properties. There is archaeological evidence of roasted foodstuffs, both animal and vegetable, in campsites dating from the earliest known use of fire, some 800,000 years ago. Other methods of cooking that involve the boiling of liquid in a receptacle have been practiced at least since the 10th millennium BC, with the introduction of pottery.

Food is any substance, usually composed primarily of carbohydrates, fats, water and/or proteins, that can be eaten or drunk by an animal for nutrition and/or pleasure. Most traditions have a recognizable cuisine, a specific set of cooking traditions, preferences, and practices, the study of which is known as food gastronomy.

Almost all foods are of plant or animal origin, although there are some exceptions. Almost every form of life has been used as food, either for nutritive or ritual purposes, by one or more human societies at some time in the past.

Some foods do not come from animal or plant sources. These include various edible fungi, including mushrooms. Fungi and ambient bacteria are used in the preparation of fermented and pickled foods such as leavened bread, wine, beer, cheese, pickles, and yogurt. Many cultures eat seaweed, which is a protist, or blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) such as Spirulina. Additionally, salt is often eaten as a flavoring or preservative, and baking soda is used in food preparation. Both of these are inorganic substances, as is water, an important part of human diet.

Cuisine is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. Religious food laws can also exercise a strong influence on cuisine. A cuisine is primarily influenced by the ingredients that are available locally or through trade. For example, the "Asian" dish chop suey clearly reflected the adaptation of Chinese cuisine to the ingredients available in North America.

The last century has produced enormous improvements in food production, preservation, storage and shipping. Today almost every locale in the world has access to not only its traditional cuisine, but also to many other world cuisines as well. New cuisines are constantly evolving, as certain aesthetics rise and fall in popularity among professional chefs and their clientele. Nevertheless, French cooking techniques have been a major influence on virtually all Western cuisines.

In addition to food, a cuisine is also often held to include beverages, including wine, liquor, tea, coffee and other drinks. Increasingly, experts hold that it further includes the raw ingredients and original plants and animals from which they come.