Economics And Food

Mini Lobster Rolls

Less is more.  We have all heard that one before whether it is in regard to food or decoration or, well, basically anything.  I've often said that the more ingredients one starts adding to a meal dilutes all of the other flavors.  Many young chefs I have worked with proudly present the dish they have created with sixteen different spices.  And decorated with edible flowers.  I'm not a fan of edible flowers.  It's like eating perfume.

So, does the less-is-more rule apply to dining or eating in general?  Well, interesting question especially since the most famous, well-reviewed, successful and awarded restaurants in the entire world seem to employ the strategy.  The rule is known in the study of economics as the Law Of Diminishing Returns.  

At first glance it seems about as complicated as the first reading of an explanation of the law of Qualified Immunity, something many of us have likely been researching lately.  It's not, however.  It's basically less-is-more.

Imagine that it's been years, for instance, that you've had your favorite candy bar.  Luckily someone hands you one to enjoy one day and you get at it.  Well, of course the flavor and experience is absolutely incredible, releasing a torrent of emotions and memories.  Then they offer you another one and you greedily accept and this one is good, too, but not quite as memorable or satisfying as the first.  The third even less.  The sixth is starting to make you queasy.  By the tenth you never want to see this damn candy bar again in your life.  Less is more.

The very top echelons of dining, and by that I mean the French Laundry or El Bulli level, employ this economic principle.  El Bulli is, of course, gone now but neither served large dishes or heaping plates of anything and no entity at this strata ever will.  What they all serve is a timed succession of very small tastes packed with flavor and often in unexpected and even playful forms.  

During this pandemic we've all been often stuck at home and thinking of food.  A lot.  In fact, many of us have gained what is being called the Covid-19 fifteen, those pounds that have a direct relation between working at home and the proximity to one's kitchen and fridge.  Wouldn't just a scoop of pistachio ice cream hit the spot after that boring, dreadful zoom meeting?  

But here's the thing and I often get asked how in the name of God I, as a food writer and prodigious food product sampler, can manage to remain thin.  You actually can have one spoonful of pistachio ice cream instead of an entire bowl.  Or pint.  And you can enjoy it.  Because, really, the less you eat, the better it tastes.