Cooking With Clay Makes Everything Taste Better

If you told someone that cooking a meal in a clay pot made the food taste better, they’d probably look at you like you lost your mind. Or perhaps they would suspect that something from the pot’s surface made its way into the food and somehow scrambled your sense. Of course, you know better – but you can forgive them for not fully appreciating the impact that natural surfaces seem to have on the foods we eat. The simple truth is that, for many people, the food prepared in handmade pots and pans really does seem to taste better.

But why is that? Well, if you’re the proud owner of a set of handcrafted dinnerware such as those pieces found in our Gaia Collection, then you may have already noticed how food seems to taste better when it is served on those manmade dishes. And since we know that our sense seem to connect those dishes with enhanced taste, why wouldn’t it make sense that cooking in handmade pots would result in enhanced flavors and a different culinary experience?

Of course, there is no definitive scientific evidence that any of this really matters, but does there need to be? There are some things – perception, for instance – that we don’t need science to interpret for us. And it’s not as though there are scientific processes that could offer that kind of explanation anyway. What we do know is that our sense of smell and taste are often tied to our moods and emotions, and that an untold number of things can subtly alter those senses.

And there’s the heart of the matter: each person has his or her own reason for enjoying the food from these handcrafted pots, plates, and other dinnerware and cookware pieces. Some can swear that the earthen materials used in the pots tend to create an aroma of natural earth and minerals while on the stove. Others will declare that their handcrafted plates make them feel more in touch with the earth – the source of all our food. Some just believe that the fact that those pieces are made by human hands powerfully alters the cooking and dining dynamic.

And if you think that your clay cooking is limited to what you can put in a pot, think again. There are artisans crafting bean pots, cazuelas and other casserole pans, stew pots, and skillets. All of them can bring an added dimension to your food preparation and enhance the flavor of any meal. More importantly, they can alter the way you feel about the cooking process, instilling in you a greater appreciation for the rich history of both cooking and mankind itself.

So, whether you believe in such things or not, many of us do find that food prepared with manmade pots and pans and served on handcrafted dinnerware far outshines anything we create using machine-made products. Of course, that could very well be all in our imaginations, but imagination isn’t necessarily a bad thing either – especially if it seems to make everything taste better.