Edited: Apparently it’s still not obvious to some folks why Teflon nonstick PTFE coating is bad for you, so here’s a good primer and also EPA’s explanation of these confusing terms like PFAS, PFOA etc.

Also, I highly recommend this recent (Nov 2019) legal thriller that stars Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway and Tim Robbins called Dark Waters (90% on RT) based on a true story on DuPont’s cover up. And even if not for the story, see it for Mark’s outstanding and Oscar-worthy performance!

On June 12, I posted on Main Street Mama's SF Facebook group a request for recommendations on healthy alternatives to teflon non stick cookware and got 136 comments! Here's the link to the article I posted in that FB group, in case you were wondering. And if you're part of that group, you can access the thread here.

I learned about a few popular alternatives, most notably of Greenpan, Scanpan, Hex Clad, Always Pan and Made In. That got me diving into researching each of these options and uncovering which of these are safe and not so safe. I posted my findings on instastories and found that many others were interested in my research, so I'm compiling a summary of them here.

Summary of Research ****

After a lot of research, I found the following about the alternative cookware of these specific brands:

• **Greenpan** - These ceramic-coated pans, especially the Food52 collaboration ones look SO GORGEOUS that Jason and I fell in love with and almost bought the blue ones. But when I read the reviews on Food52 itself, it sounds like they stain on bottom and the non-stick coating comes off after a few months, which gave me pause for concern. After researching further, I found this blog that discovered how Greenpan has nanoparticles that may be damaging to our immune system 😩. So yeah, I had to cross this one off our list.
• Scanpan - There's this new material that they use to make the pan, called "stratanium." But nobody could answer me on what it was and whether they knew it was 100% safe, and google wasn't much help either. Because of this, I decided to skip considering this pan. Later, a mom commented that "Scanpan still uses PFAS chemicals, basically like Teflon. So best to avoid!" This was never disclosed on their website (duh!) and she had to email them to ask. Edited: Note: Scanpan has a lifetime warranty and some moms mentioned that they've replaced their pan after a year. I'm assuming it's because the whatever stratanium coating comes off after a year... having to replace your pans every year sounds pretty cumbersome, and I'd prefer to get stuff that's longer lasting.

<aside> 👉🏼 Through my journey, as tedious as it sounds, I've learned to email manufacturers to ask about questionable materials & chemicals before deciding on a big purchase, if I truly want to keep my family away from harmful chemicals or neurotoxins.

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• Hex Clad - Unfortunately, as convincing as they make their heavy duty product sound on their website (and video!), apparently it does have some PTFE. Because of that, I decided not to consider them, since I really don't want any amount of PTFE exposure in my food.

  

<aside> 💡 Someone in the group also shared this pretty interesting fact: Non-stick is supposed to be a weight-loss solution. Regular metal (stainless steel) pans work totally fine and are not prone to food sticking, if you use some fat between the food and the pan. But then all these guidelines came out about reducing your fat intake, and it felt like slapping some butter into your pan before you sautéed things was inappropriate. Years later, it seems like fat isn’t quite the boogeyman that we thought and sugar might actually be a bigger culprit. In our household, we’ve gotten rid of the non-stick and just use regular pans. Benefits include being able to use regular spatulas and spoons instead of silicon-coated ones that are thicker and harder to work with. And, better Maillard reaction (the thing that makes things brown up). So, if you find that you follow recipes that put a little fat in the pan, going regular pans might be the way to go. But if you’re super conservative about fat, then I’d totally recommend the non-stick Hex pans that everyone else does.

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• Our Place Always Pan - This pan is SO gorgeous (love the color, the steamer and the spoon) and the female founder story behind it rocks too. It almost got me clicking BUY! Unfortunately, they weren't completely transparent about the material on their website and I had to email them to ask. Turns out they do use a ceramic coating just like greenpans. And from reading reviews, the non-stick coating does come off after some usage (and becomes toxic). So this was out for me too, sadly.
• Cast Iron - Brands: Lodge, Finex, Le Crueset, etc. Most cast iron brands are probably pretty good and the safest in general but people seem to prefer Finex since they use organic flax oil to season them. Lodge, for example, use a soybean oil to season it which is apparently not non-GMO (would you cook your organic food in a GMO cast iron?). Also, they do tend to leach some iron, which is somewhat healthy for most people who are iron-deficient, but be aware of too much iron if you have relevant underlying conditions. Anyway, they also last forever and gets better over time, which is not true for most other types of cookware. The cons are that they're very heavy and requires quite a bit of maintenance (to season, wash, dry etc). Note on Le Crueset leaching below.
• Carbon Steel - Brands: de Buyer, Made In, Mauviel. I had to research this quite a bit since it's another one of those "innovative materials" that I was a bit skeptical of. So far, my research tells me that it's pretty safe since it's a combination of 99% iron and 1% carbon that creates an extremely tough surface that heats quickly and evenly. Known as an ‘alloy,’ this mixture also allows chefs to achieve and maintain super high temperatures without worrying about damage to the pan. More importantly, it doesn’t leach anything but some iron. Turns out, it's also popular in many professional kitchens across the globe. It's much lighter than cast-iron and much more durable. Like cast iron, it still requires seasoning, or else it will easily rust. Most of the reputable & safe cookware seem to come from France, and so does most carbon steel cookware, so I would trust most brands that are made there (never buy any cookware from China because they have very lax standards on chemical testing etc).

<aside> 📢 You might want to use different cookware for more acidic dishes. Eg if you're cooking tomato or pasta sauce, use a Stainless Steel pot instead of Cast Iron or Carbon Steel since they will leach more iron when acidic food is cooked.

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