In 2020, like the rest of the world, I found myself acclimating to my new pandemic-imposed lifestyle. Masking up every time I walked out the door, incessantly washing my hands like a germaphobe, replacing all piano lessons with the screen.

The silver lining was having more free time on my hands than I ever thought possible, which afforded me the opportunity to get better at one of my favorite past-times:

Cooking.

Though I enjoy spending time in the kitchen, I have no desire to create anything that remotely resembles a Michelin meal. I just want my current menu to taste even better.

So I picked up a copy of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. It was the perfect time to dive into this book which had been simmering on my Amazon list for far too long.

If you haven't guessed it, the premise is that you can be considered an above-average culinarian by mastering these 4 fundamental elements.

I was pleasantly surprised, it turned out to not only be a great book on cooking but one of the best references on *learning* I had ever read.

One evening I wanted to recreate a pasta dinner I had concocted using the book, so I flipped through the pages to find the ingredients and recipe ...

... but nothing was there.

Had I seen it online? Was someone playing a joke on me? Was I hallucinating because I was unknowingly infected with Covid?

No, no, and, for the moment, no.

I had made it from scratch.

This is what was so satisfying. Sure, the basic step by step instructions were there, but the author, Samin Nosrat, went deeper into principles. She left me with a foundation that allowed me the freedom to produce something delicious based on an enduring knowledge, instead of a superficial instruction manual.

It reminded me of the opposite approach, the teaching style that's all too common today. Educators who are induced into giving away the answers, denying their students the opportunity to figure things out for themselves.

They propagate a codependency because they're afraid of losing their paycheck. But the irony is that the more you teach yourself out of a job, the less you need to worry about getting fired.

(of course it's unfair to completely blame them, as they exist in a system that enforces this behavior)

In a similar vein, it's also why so many people fail at digital minimalism. They don't get that it's less about memorizing surface-layer tactics and more about an absolute rehaul of your relationship to technology at the philosophical level.

For me, this deeper, intuitive style of erudition is best illustrated by that scene in The Matrix. The one where Morpheus replies to Neo, who has just questioned if he's been told he'll be able to dodge bullets:

"... when you're ready, you won't have to."

If you only use recipes, you'll never know how to cook.

Cheers.