Miriam's earthen clay pots are the best cooking vessels I have ever used. I have tried pressure cookers, stainless, enameled pans, you name it, it has been on my stove top at one point or another. I even used a crock pot with a ceramic glazed insert to cook beans in. What is interesting, is that one day a few weeks ago, I just got tired of the metal taste I tasted every time I used my pots. So, I went looking for a clay pot by instinct and just happened to come to Miriam's earthen cookware. On a hunch, without even reading her full site, I just bought one. When it arrived, I followed the seasoning directions and the next day, after letting it "cure " overnight, I cooked up my first meal. But it wasn't for me but my three golden retrievers. It consisted of lentils, sweet potatoes and carrots, and some ghee. Well, if dogs are a barometer, as their chow was cooking, the whole house filled with this lovely food aroma I have never smelled before. It smelled like 'FOOD." When serving time came, three tails were whipping around with delight. I put a little in a bowl for myself and fed the dogs. We all ate in silence, shocked at the quality of the food and no metal taste. Then, I went back to Miriam's website to learn what she was about. And to put it simply, to make a new cooking pot, Miriam went back to ancient history, where all cooking vessels were made of clay. Metal is a modern invention and one that should never have been taken. Cooking spaghetti in an aluminum pot,... that's what my mother used to do. All completely idiotic and stupid, The denizens of making a buck, sold us all down the river for something that was horrible for our food and health. All those toxic metals, including aluminum, they go right into your food because heat is a catalyst and leaches the metals out. So, the first thing I did after eating my first small lentil meal, was to put my first metal pressure cooker up for sale. And all my Le Creuset cookware that I thought I was married to, it is gone. There is simply no comparison. The clay is healthy and the other pots are junk compared to the taste. And if you doubt it, go to her site and do the baking soda test of your metal cookware. The taste that comes out of these metal pots is nothing short of disgusting. So, if you want to save your health, and even your dogs health, cook in Miriam's clay pots. Read her site. All the science is there. I will never cook in anything metal or enameled ever again. Miriam's earthen cookware is simply the best cooking vessel in the world. Kit Raymond. MEC Owner