“HOW CAN YOU TELL FROM a single dish whether or not the cook is adept?” a customer once asked Prosatio Silban.
“Simplicity in the complex, and complexity in the simple,” came the cook-errant’s swift reply.
His customer creased her brow. “Say more about that, if you please?”
“Gladly,” he said. “There are some dishes, such as omelets, which appear easy. After all, what could be so hard about scrambling and cooking a couple of fidget-hen eggs? But to do it right requires a certain measure of skill and patience. Similarly, as in the fiery-and-acerbic soup beloved of distant M’zir, a tell-tale dish may combine many disparate elements without any one overpowering its bowl-mates. I suppose the latter could also be said about the good life – uncomplicated, everything in balance, with the whole greater than the sum of its parts. The secret to both, of course, is in the flavoring.”
(If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. And if you want another 85 stories in one easy-to-read package, here’s the e-book!)