Overcomplicating to Impress

Masterchef is back on television and it is quite addictive to watch a show about people cooking food. This show is conducted in such a beautiful and crisp manner which makes it very interesting to watch. If you've been living under a rock, Masterchef is a television reality show about amateur cooks competing against each other.

Now these guys are all home cooks. Somewhere in their daily routine, they realized that they have a passion for cooking and wondered 'why not do it professionally?'.

But when that thought of professionalism crept in, it also brought along a friend -  Mr. Insecurity. "I am only a home cook, I can't make a complicated dish, I can't make my dish look like the product of a fine restaurant", it moaned. Mr. Insecurity totally forgot about the concept of deliciousness. It only worried about impressing the judges and scoring those marks.

In the initial few weeks, almost all the contestants cooked from their hearts -  dishes that they were familiar with and their family loved to eat! Then they went through a phase of questioning if it was enough. And in the quest to push the bar, they started overcomplicating their dishes. Did it make the dish look overwhelming? Yes. Was it delicious? Hell, no.

Thanksgiving Plate#1 (from Wordpress)
Just for representation purposes :-)

One of the mentors, Marco Pierre White, kept going on like a broken record "Keep it Simple". They heard him, they understood him, but under pressure it became second nature to overcomplicate. How is it that we subconsciously think 'more is good'? Whenever we are caught in a pressure situation (with food or without!), somehow we think it's rational to put in many elements and let the audience pick up the ones that they want.

While leaving this choice to the audience, we totally ignore the negative effects that the bad elements could have on the good ones and that could completely cloud the entire situation. As they've always said, one rotten egg is all it takes...

Take a moment. Think about what you want to plate up. And go ahead and do it. If you throw in too many elements, all you're going to end up with is a mess. And frankly a mess doesn't look too appetizing, does it?

But this sure does! Beautifully plated dessert...
Courtesy: johnvalls.com