Non-stick cookware safety

Here's our take, starting with the basic principles: Traditional non-stick pans had coatings that could release potentially harmful chemicals (such as PFAS) at high heat. Non-stick pans with chipped surfaces posed, and probably still pose, some potential health risk with high-heat cooking. Many "non-stick" pans now (for example on Amazon) have a ceramic-based coating, which lowers the risk and is often advertised as PFAS-free. However, really high heat can still pose some issues. Practical take-home messages for Indian cooking: Discard non-stick pans with chipped surfaces. Current non-stick pans are fine for usual low-to-medium heat cooking, such as eggs, dosa, cheela, sautéing veggies, dal, and curries. For high-heat Indian cooking (tadka, browning masala, roti/chapati on a tawa, searing paneer or meat), we recommend stainless steel or cast iron pans. Many kadhais are made of one of these and are good for high-heat Indian cooking. Bottom line: non-stick is fine for low-to-medium heat, but use stainless steel or cast iron for high-heat cooking, and replace any pan with a chipped surface.