Sander's Reflexions

"When a Dutchman prepares a dinner he follows the recipe strictly and tastes it when it is ready to be served (he is satisfied when he has succeeded to follow the instructions); a Belgian looks which ingredients are available and makes a dinner after a recipe that he has once heard, meanwhile he tastes and adjusts: he is only satisfied when it tastes good." This statement is not mine. Paul Wouters, a Belgium author living in The Netherlands, made it. I don’t know if there is any truth in it, but it’s a nice illustration of my previous posting about art. It’s the difference between the artist and the engineer.

The Dutchman works like an engineer. He applies the instructions. The Belgian works like an artist. For him cooking is a creative process. Every dinner is unique. The result depends on available ingredients, what he remembers of a recipe and his taste.

Note that when the engineer has found a good recipe, he can give it to his neighbour engineer, who will be able to make the same dinner. However, if the recipe is of a poor quality it will remain so. The artist on the contrary will take the poor recipe and make a good dinner, but is also able to make a very poor meal with a good recipe.

Anyway, it’s better to have an engineer or artist in the kitchen than a scientist. The scientist can make an awful dinner and afterwards be very happy, because he learned something new and argue that he has found out why it doesn’t taste good.