Canadian Politics Today

I believe if you put a metal bowl or pot in a microwave oven, it will not spark. The problem of course is it will reflect the microwaves back and therefore the food inside the bowl will not heat up. Some microwaves will reach the food from an open top, but most will be reflected away. The problem with sparking seems to be associated with thin metals, like aluminum foil or the wrappers on some food items that contain a very thin metal usually bonded to a plastic. I am not sure if something like a fork would spark in microwave, perhaps some of the cheap flatware would.

That's correct. I have a micro that is made of steel and happily it doesn't blow up every time I turn it on. If you are going to put some cutlery in your oven put spoons or knives, much less likely to spark than forks. The tines of the fork are fine enough to create the same environment for arcing as does a sheet of aluminum. Better yet use a glass dish and be worry free. I haven't got around to any research on this but a buddy of mine once told me he read an article that suggested that plastic in a microwave is not so healthy as the radiation penetrating the plastic can drive certain elements into the food in the container which are carcinogenic and so I avoid heating in plastic. It might be an old wives tale but I used to find if you had say a bowl of soup on the go the bowl would get so hot you could barely touch it while the soup was still tepid.