Cooking can be defined as the art, technology and craft of preparing food for consumption with or without the aid of fire. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world. It reflects the environmental, economic and cultural trend of the place. Preparing food with heat or fire is definitely an activity that is unique to only the human race and it came into existence more than two million years ago. There are many recipes that can be prepared without the use of fire as well. At times, like with the cooking of a ceviche, which is a traditional South American dish where fish or meat is cooked with the acids present in lime or lemon juice, cooking occurs through chemical reactions that does not require heat.

Let’s take a glimpse at the various methods of cooking practiced by people all over the world:

• Broiling: This method makes use of radiant heat from an overhead source to cook food. By placing the food to be broiled on a preheated metal grate where radiant heat from the overhead cooks the food, you get attractive crosshatch marks on the food item from the metal grate.
• Grilling: Although very similar to broiling, grilling uses the heat source located beneath the cooking surface. The crosshatch mark usually indicates that the food has been grilled.