Author(s): Purnima Chandra, Dr. Kavita Kumari and Srishti Pandey

Abstract:
Food is the integral part of the human life and there is close relationship between food and health. To maintain good health, ingesting a diet containing all the required nutrients in correct amount is essential. Some foods eaten as raw or some needs cooking a and processing before eating. Cooking is both the art and science of preparing food. We cook food to make it healthier and beneficial for the eaters. But sometimes unhealthy practices or some mistakes done prior to/during cooking may affect nutritional values of foods adversely. Sometimes homemakers do mistakes consciously or unconsciously. Home makers do mistakes at various stages like cleaning, cutting, processing or cooking. There are many faulty cooking practices which are being followed by the home makers like washing vegetables after cutting, excessive use of water during cooking, cooking food uncovered, overcooking of food, frequent use of micro oven, use of Teflon coating pans on high flame, repeated use of used oil or fats, kneading extra dough for storage, etc.. Use of faulty methods in cooking may cause numerous undesirable effects on human health. Therefore, it is important to identify the common mistakes done by home akers during/prior to cooking and make them aware on loss of nutrients and bad effects on human health due to unhealthy or wrong practices of cooking. The Present study was conducted in Patna town, Bihar. Sample size was selected randomly which comprised of 100 respondents.