What makes great great?
On the essence of greatness
A culinary example
What makes a cuisine a great cuisine?
All great cuisines have the following three characteristics.
- A great cuisine is old. It has spanned a long period of time. Countries and regions with great cuisines have long histories.
- Within that period of time, it has changed, evolved and mutated. Countries with long, but simple histories, tend to have uninteresting cuisines. On the other hand countries with long, turbulent and complicated histories, have great cuisines. This is because history has forced the cuisine to change, evolve and mutate.
- This evolution has been influenced by many factors that constantly judged, and shaped it. Truly great cuisines have been constantly questioned and measured. Often historical personalities have question the nature of food, and forced it to progress.
If you can see a parallel with biological evolution, you see correctly: Time, Mutation and Fitness.
But what is great?
But you might say that great is subjective. You might argue that to a boiled potato, a boiled potato is great cuisine. But of course you’re right: Before we proceed, we need to agree on what great actually means.
In all aspects of life, art and science, there is only one enduring defintion of great: Whatever that endures is great.
Now, you might protest that this definition is a tautology. Of course, it is a tautology — as true is true.
But then again, there is something enduring about enduring. A song which is still popular after 200 years, is clearly a greater song than one that has topped the chart for just 2 weeks. A book that is read for 2000 years, is clearly greater than one that has been read for just 20. This is because time tests all things, and has the habit of culling the insignificant, the meaningless and the non-great.
Hence, the essence of greatness is endurance. The greatest man is the last man laughing. The greatest joke is the last joke standing.
Concluding resolutions
- On Books. Re-read the old books one has already read and enjoyed. The same applies to movies, songs and dishes. Read new books (movies, songs and dishes) only by accident; but be open to making accidents.
- On Bucket Lists. Replace your bucket list with a bucket cycle. A cycle of things you do over and over again.
- On Theories. Time passes slowly when events are far between. A second is a long time in physics; a decade a short time in economics. Hence, you can trust a second-old theory in physcis more than a decade-old theory in economics.
- On Houses. An old house will probably last longer than a new house. An old city, longer than a new city. An old country, longer than a new country.
- On Journalism. Judge a journalist by what they wrote last year. Judge an economist by what they wrote last decade. Judge an astrologer by what they wrote before the big bang.
- On Tourism. Before visiting a country, check if it existed a 1000 years ago. If you enjoy being disappointed, visit some place that that didn’t exist 10 years ago.
- On Cuisine. If you want to try some truly good French cuisine, try a dish invented before the French Revolution (You won’t find these in most Michelin starred restaurants). If you want to try some truly bad American cuisine, try a dish invented after the American Revolution, or even worse, the American Civil War.
[This article has been significantly influenced by the books and thoughts of Nassim Nicholas Taleb].
