Creativity

Creativity is both overrated and underrated. It often comes before its time, and is used in cooking without proper ingredients, depth of experience, and technique, and may fall flat in these situations. Creativity can sometimes have the opposite effect that it is intended to, if not employed in a sound manner. I believe that training, together with a thorough understanding of ingredients, equipment, and technique, are all critical components that need to be in place before meaningful creativity is used. That is not to say that an inexperienced or untrained chef should not imagine unique recipes, dishes, or flavors. However, it is more likely than not that, in the absence of proper training and great ingredients, the vision for what the chef is trying to create may not fully manifest.