Rex: > BTW, I've come across some data about why it may be important to steam certain > foods, before eating, to release toxicity. a while ago there was an article reprinted in m2m talking about "why do we heat some of our foods". in a nutshell, some higher plants are toxic and heat has been used on certain foods to make them less toxic. even survival of human race over other plant eating species has been linked in this article to the 'maillard reaction' (simply using heat to prepare the food). there were some foods listed in the article with anti-nutritional/toxic factors and metabolic effects upon ingestion. like they say that ingestion of raw cassava and peanuts may cause death within one hour. i don't know, i have not tried it for myself, but i know for sure that there are some people who end up in a hospital from eating raw nuts (peanuts?). i also know that i could never ever digest beans even presoaked and precooked. some primitive people like australian aborigenals have been soaking certain wild foods for days, even before cooking, in running rivers to remove toxins while europeans when they came to this continent started eating them without any preparation and many died. best, tatiana _______________________________________________________ Get your free, private e-mail at http://mail.excite.com/