how different is a cast iron pan from normal pans?  

If I could only have one kind of pan, I would choose cast iron. They spread the heat evenly so even if the burner doesn't cover the whole pan you may get a little "hot spot" in the center, but the food cooks all the way out to the edges.

Clean-up is a breeze. If there's stuck food on the pan, pour in some water, bring it to a boil, then scrub. It comes off easily. Rinse well, put on a burner to dry. If it needs it after being treated so roughly, coat the inner surface with a very, very light film of oil and heat it til a little smoke begins to waft off the pan. Take it off the burner. It's clean, seasoned and ready to cook in again.

I used to cook in aluminum and teflon (silverstone actually). I found the aluminum doesn't cook foods to taste like cast iron does. Coated pans eventually get scratched and start to flake and peel, but I have 2 cast iron skillets that I got in my wedding shower 50 years ago that are a little crusty on the outside, but still are superior cooking vessels.

My mother, who is a great cook, has used cast iron pans forever. She uses them to fry foods as they get very hot and retain the heat in an even distribution. Also, they last forever. My mom has had other types of pans including aluminum and the handles always end up breaking. The only thing I don't like about cast iron is that it is so heavy and may be harder to clean than Teflon. PS I like your kitty picture!

What the previous post said is true cast iron is a much better pan,although there are some expensive pans of other metals,but cast iron is my choice nothing like an egg cooked in cast iron.

They are currently wondering if teflon coated pans are harming us. If your pan has scratches or is peeling at all, they are recommending tossing them away. I have heard that cast iron and stainless steel pans are the best as far as there not being any leakage into our foods. Cast iron gives off a little iron but we need iron in our systems. Stainless steel does not leak at all . I'm not sure about aluminum. I use aluminum foil all the time and I've heard some similar rumors about foil too.

As far as heat dispersal, the steel and iron pans disperse the heat more evenly to your food causing more even cooking and less burning. Glass is bad for that and I think aluminum and teflon are not as good either.

I have used all different types of pans and I don't like cast iron at all. I don't know the difference but I don't like using them. My favorite is teflon.