I like their flat French pan, my must be ove 20 years old now..

A further conundrum of Cast Iron in the kitchen is why?

I mean why, as we age and lifting heavy items become more of an effort, we do seem to move towards the heavy cookware, not away?   

You're right on the money Rabbitz. It's likely that it's taken us 50 years to work out what is good in the kitchen. Having said that I bought an expensive cast, enamelled pressure cooker. Made in Germany, does that make it better ? My wife wasn't all that impressed when it arrived, didn't tell her beforehand, and even less impressed when I told her what I'd paid. She uses it all the time & has never complained since. That would have been 25 years ago. I think only one new seal for the lid. But it's definitely getting heavy to wash.