Don't get too fussed. The bad thing is Teflon.

Cast iron is only bad for you if you're aggressive and get too much iron in your diet from using it. That's really rare.

Enamel is a glass like substance, but the colors can be an issue. Notice that that beautiful Le Creuset cadmium red is on the outside. You wouldn't want to cook right on it. Any kind of pottery that's older or not labelled for food use is suspect. It's what's in the glaze and whether it can get into the food, especially heavy metals (inc. lead) which make them look pretty.

Corningware and Pyrex, etc., are glass like substances, but have different structures and component chemicals. There are some which according to some rabbis are not as impervious as regular silicate glass so can't be rekashered or something, like plastics. I don't think that makes them any less food safe however.

Plain metal, whether iron, steel, tin (lining for copper), aluminum or what have you, should be safe unless you have an issue. Anemic people are told to cook in cast iron. Your body needs it, copper, zinc, etc., in very small quanities. There was an early association that people made between Alzheimers and aluminum, but I've read that that has been disproven.

Most cookware sold for cooking purposes in the U.S.A. is actually safe for cooking... Teflon and some of it's successors have issues at high heat or if it's scraped off into the food.

I can't think of any cookware sold for cooking in the us that "leaches chemicals" but for maybe 25 year old teflon....and perhaps unlined copper....but those things are not sold in the US for cooking.
I know there people who say that stainless steel, unless it's some very expensive stuff "leaches chemicals" but I think that's a bit extreme.

Most of mine are a variety of stainless. I do have some nice new skillets that are pretty stick free that I like. The cast iron is too heavy for me any more to use.

Sue

I have a collection of vintage pyrex bakeware, & some of it doubles as refrigerator storage. If you have a gas stove, you can use Pyrex or Corning cookware on it. I also have a number of enamelled pans for baking & stovetop.

Otherwise I do the same: cast iron & stainless. I don't use non-stick pans, but I got a white ceramic non stick saute pan for hubby & he likes it a lot.

Aluminum can leach into foods - esp. acidic things like tomato sauce. Not that great for you. Plastic also can release chemicals into your food - esp. if you are using it in a microwave. Anyone else seen those new-ish plastic (not silicone) disposable pans for baking? I am very skeptical of the concept. I got rid of most of our plastic kitchenware years ago. Actually, I'm rather skeptical of the silicone bakeware as well.

I am not all woo-woo about it. I mainly prefer the inert qualities of pyrex & stainless because things keep better & do not take on off flavors in storage. Metal & glass are also much more durable than plastic; they last longer. Plastic is not impermeable, glass & metal are. Glass & enamel are also non-stick (enamel is glass).

I have stainless steel and Le Creuset.

Like Carol I have a (probably too large) collection of Pyrex/FireKing/Hazel Atlas/Corningware that I love and use regularly. I own a couple of pieces of AllClad and several pieces of enamel lined Le Crueset which I never use because it's heavy and I prefer the weight and performance of the original Griswold cast iron pans that I've managed to accumulate. Elery uses the Le Crueset occasionally.

My old doctor told me to cook with cast iron to keep my iron levels up, so I did that for years, plus I was too poor to buy anything else, LOL. My entire collection of cooking utensils consisted of 3 cast iron skillets in different sizes and one Revere Ware saucepan.

I still find that I use about 5 or 6 pans regularly. None are nonstick or Teflon type pans. Elery does have one pan that he uses for eggs that is an Aeternum, it has a white enamel type nonstick coating.

I'm not sure any of them are any more or less "safe" than the others, I find that I use different pans made of different materials for different purposes.

Annie

I would still not risk using aluminum. There are many other options. There are other problems you can get from excess aluminum, not just Alzheimers. Even if that is now disproved, I know my mom developed non-Alzheimer's memory problems from using it, and it was a long process to get it removed from her body.

Companies are not manufacturing and selling cooking pots and pans that are dangerous to use! There are so many products liability laws and lawsuits, they wouldn't dare! Lighten up!

think i'll always have some noon-stick in my kitchen. i think it got an undeserved bad rap. i don't buy/use really low quality stuff, but DO know how to use it. you'll pretty much always need even teeniest amount of some sort of fat/oil. non-stick CANNOT replace good old, indestructible cast iron. you can't get it screaming hot to sear a steak. you can't go at it with a metal spatula or steel wool... on rare occasion that it actually needs scrubbing.

Perhaps for cookware you don't mean " leaching", Perhaps you mean chemical interaction with certain types of food, like eggs and sterling silver?

Lead crystal glasses should not be used. Lead can leach into drinks.

dcarch

For me it’s more about country of manufacture than materials; a very good friend of mine is a expert in contamination (which is a vast oversimplification, but suffice to say he’s an expert witness on a regular basis for court cases and stuff for this exact topic) and he has said for years that we’d all be shocked at what’s in our products from other countries, and not in a good way. Even modern Le Crueset is made in China. So I use American made Lodge cast iron and American made with American materials All Clad. And vintage Corning Ware. All glass, American if I can find it, in our home, even the baby bottles are glass.