Induction stoves are gaining popularity and recognition for their superior performance and reduced health and climate impacts compared to gas stoves, the Washington Post reports. Evidence of the dangers posed by gas stoves to human health and the climate by leaking methane even when turned off continues to mount, more chefs (professional and otherwise) are enjoying the benefits (culinary and otherwise) of cooking with induction.
For nearly a century, the gas industry has spent millions of dollars on coordinated lobbying and public relations campaigns — everything from lobbying to infomercials and a rap video the Post describes as “catchy” to Instagram influencer campaigns — to ensconce “cooking with gas” as the standard for anyone serious about cooking and block local efforts to electrify buildings to meet their climate goals.
Culinary and health benefits
“You can do so much more on induction than gas,” Evan Hennessey, co-owner of Stages in Dover, NH, told the Post. “The precision cooking allows us to do way more, without compromising the air quality in the kitchen for our guests or our staff.” Interior designers like Leslie Murchie Cascino, founder of Bonnie Wu Design in Ann Arbor, Mich, love the clean visuals and easy-to-clean surface afforded by induction cooktops — some of which can even be installed to invisibly cook through porcelain or granite countertops — and the fact that a child (or adult) is less likely to get burned or set something on fire with an induction cooktop that is cool to the touch when no pan is present.
The most immediate benefits of induction over gas, may be even more visceral than that. “I would get a headache whenever the gas was running,” Tanuj Deora, who cooks dinner from scratch most nights with his wife Amy in their Washington, DC home, told the Post. “This cooktop isn’t just adequate for cooking — it’s better than the gas stove was,” he added. (Washington Post $)