January 3, 2019

Food for Thought

This is the second time @josephgriffostudio cooked for us on New Years Eve. This time, the menu consisted of pork chops, antipasto, and pizza. All fantastic, particularly the pork chops. I’m still dreaming about it.

In my middle age, I’ve noticed that the value of experience in most fields has a point of diminishing returns. If you already have 10 years of experience, adding another 10 wouldn’t do much in terms of the value your customers can perceive. This is partly because certain types of knowledge and skills have expiration dates. For instance, in computer programming, the average expiration date is about 5 years, and it’s getting shorter. Any knowledge you acquired 10 or more years ago is generally useless as most technologies do not last that long.

The experience in graphic design expires for a different reason; it cyclically goes out of fashion. Many older designers will surely disagree about the value of experience (and they would be right), but the question is this: Can prospective clients discern the difference? It’s like being able to tell the difference between 10-year old wine and 20-year old wine. For most people, the difference is irrelevant.

I’m envious of cooks/chefs, because their knowledge and skills do not expire. For instance, the pasta making skill they learned 20 years ago would still be useful today. The more experience they have, the more depth and breadth they can add to their cooking. And, I see this in action when I watch Joe cook. He cooked everything without looking up anything on the Internet, and, on the fly, adapted to whatever ingredients were available or unavailable to him. Still, everything came out great. Now, that’s a value anyone can see.

#newyearseve #porkchop #chefs #antipasto #nycfoodie #nycfood #cooking #happynewyear