With health in mind, Indians are rethinking their 'kadais'

New research and rising awareness are driving households to switch to safer options like cast iron and tri-ply cookware

- Tanisha Saxena

Until recently, Bengaluru homemaker Rachna Mehra cooked almost everything in a lightweight aluminium kadai. But rising chatter about overheating and metal leaching pushed her towards cast iron, a switch she describes as “the first time I thought about what my pan is actually doing to the food”.

In Delhi, Amit Sharma, 29, packed away his aluminium pressure cooker after reading about leaching in acidic foods, choosing stainless steel instead.

These individual shifts are part of a broader rethinking under way in Indian households, where utensils once bought out of habit are now being evaluated for health, durability, and chemical exposure. “Most of us think more about the recipe than the pan,” says Dr Karthigai Selvi A., head of clinical nutrition & dietetics at Gleneagles BGS Hospital, Bengaluru. “But the cookware you pick does shape what eventually lands on your plate... if a surface overheats, you lose more nutrients without even realizing it.”

Most Indian kitchens use a mix of aluminium, stainless steel, nonstick, cast iron, ceramic-coated cookware, and occasionally, clay pots. Among these, nonstick cookware—especially older varieties containing PFAS (perand polyfluoroalkyl substances)—has drawn the most concern. But putting everything in one danger basket is misleading, says Dr Satish Pawar, senior consultant & head—surgical oncology & robotic surgery at CARE Hospitals, Hyderabad.