To make foods safe to eat, to develop flavours in the food, to improve the texture and appearance, to improve its shell life, to give people a variety of foods in their diet
To make food safe to eat: some foods must be cooked thoroughly cooked to destroy the food poisoning bacteria they are likely to contain
To make foods safe to eat: some foods contain natural toxins that would be harmful if the food was eaten raw. Cooking destroys the toxins and makes foods safe to eat
To develop flavours in the food: cooking develops flavour by causing chemical reactions to take place in the food
