I simmered my tomato sauce in a decorative ceramic pot just because it looked beautiful on the table: after three hours on low heat, I understood what the glaze had released
A three-hour tomato sauce simmer in a hand-painted ceramic pot revealed an unsettling truth about decorative cookware: acid, heat, and time create the perfect conditions for lead and cadmium to leach from glazes into food. What looks beautiful on the table might be quietly contaminating your dinner.