I love good kitchen equipment—non toxic, well designed, long lasting equipment. However, there are some non-toxic kitchen appliances that are difficult or impossible to find.
Take electric waffle makers for instance. You can buy small round ones, rectangular ones, or big square ones. Some flip over while others are gymnastically challenged. Their prices range from $15.00 to hundreds of dollars. But every single one I can find is coated with a non-stick cooking surface.
Why can’t somebody make an affordable waffle iron with pop off cast iron plates? Remember cast iron? The original non-stick surface? All you have to do is season it right and maintain it. And if you screw it up by washing it with soap or forgetting to oil it, it’s still foolproof. You just start over by seasoning it again. Its surface won’t flake off or scratch off to contaminate your food. You won’t find its chemicals in your bloodstream (though your iron count might rise a bit). And it doesn’t emit toxic fumes guaranteed to poison you and kill your pet birds. (Yes, the fumes from over-heated non stick pans or appliances really do kill pet birds).
A few years ago, I bought a small cast iron waffle maker made for camping or the kitchen, but I’ve never used it. The problem is this: I can clearly imagine batter oozing out the sides and onto the burner of the stove while I burn the waffles.
Waffle irons aren’t the only problem. Lately, I’ve been thinking about buying a bread maker. Every single one I looked at was non-stick. And then I was looking into electric rice steamers. Imagine my disgust when I ran into the same problem.
Plastics, aluminum, and non-stick pots, pans, and appliances have no place in a healthy kitchen!
On the upside, I recently found that Lodge makes cast iron woks, muffin pans, and two burner griddles along with a bunch of other interesting cookware and you can finally buy a stainless steel Sweet and Easy popcorn popper.. (I’ve wanted one for years, but they only made aluminum.)
But this good news does not take care of my waffle problem. Maybe it’s a sign that I should speed up my slow transition to a raw vegan diet and never concern myself with cookware again. That would solve the problem.