It is better, nutritionally speaking, to steam vegetables, but that doesn’t mean you have to, says our panel of cooks Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com Every Guardian recipe begins with “boil the vegetable(s)”. We always steam, believing more nutrients and flavour stay in that way, so why are we out of step with your writers? Malcolm, Norwich Right, let’s round up some of the Guardian’s food crew and ask them to explain themselves. First to take the stand is Meera Sodha . “I’m not the sort of person to optimise anything in life, except for pleasure and ease,” she says, so when it comes to vegetables, her answer is easy: “If I’m cooking them into a meal [a curry or pan-fried dish, say], I’ll just put them in the pot or pan with all the other ingredients, where they might cook by frying, simmering or, if there’s a lid involved, part-steaming – I suppose the nutrients are captive then, so that’s a bonus!” If, however, she is serving a side of, for instance, ...