Chef David Chang on failure, Thoreau, and vegetarians

"On how he feels about vegetarians: I respect them, just not in our restaurants…"<p>Ok, there is so much hatred in this line.<p>I am a vegetarian. I like good food, but most of my friends will most likely differ with regards to what they consider as "good food". But you see, I love those great conversations that can happen only over a dinner table, overlooking a busy bustling street full of new york, or by the window on the ocean front watching the sun move into the sea.<p>Some of us can not eat non-vegetarian food because we were brought up like that(I grew up in India). Some people think that it takes a lot of discipline and political liberalism to be a vegetarian. Fact is I cannot bring myself to swallow a piece of meat anymore than a regular American can bring herself to eat dog meat or grass hopper fries. I will throw up, it has nothing to do with conscious thought, its faar past that point.<p>Most of the time, when a bunch of people go to a dinner at a restaurant, I always tag along. I almost never have an opinion as to which place to go to, because I know I wont like the food anyway. But I tag along. And yes, I will ask this chef dude to pick out the meat, not out of dis-respect for what he does, but because I want to be with my friends, because I love conversations and sunsets.

I can kind of see his point, but he's missing the boat if he's never had vegetarian sushi. Vegetables have long been an important part of sushi. I also find this to be a good litmus test for an itamae: the ones my fish-eating friends love the most, also make the best food without fish.<p>It's simply another constraint, and as much as we say we hate them, they're crucial to our work. I see "make me great food, with no meat" is not much different from "write an interrupt handler, in under 200 bytes" or "paint a fresco, on the ceiling".

An influential quote that stuck with me was when Chang stated (when referring to Walden by Thoreau) that "if you really try and you want to do something, then go for broke". This means a lot to me because while growing up I was always told that you can never put all your eggs in one basket. So, accordingly, I focussed on developing a wide breadth of skills, but subsequently I never felt like I had mastered any to the point that I could develop a profession in. At twenty two I am starting to realize this fact and while scary, I am glad that I still have time to narrow my focus. I am on my last year of college so it is late to be prodigious in any field, but that does not mean I cannot be the best. I just wish I was told to go for broke growing up rather than to "not put my eggs all in one basket" because now rather than feel I have nothing to fall back on, I feel scared to dive into one particular field (but maybe that just comes with the age and the crossroad I am at in my life).<p>The greatest thing that you can grab from this interview, though, is the parallel (not implied) between why he stopped playing golf at such a young age and the ethos that he runs his restaurants by. Claiming to be a fairly competitive individual, he said that he stopped playing golf for mostly two reasons, 1.) it was no longer fun to do competitively and 2.) he knew that he would not be the best. Whether he acknowledges this or not, he has gone the other direction with his restaurants. He was asked by Rose if he desires to have a restaurant that is "Michelin Star" caliber but strongly stated that he did not wish to do so. The laid back demeanor and attitude reflects the way he runs his restaurant. The moment you strive to be the best, the fun and enjoyable elements can disappear quite fast (I can speak from personal experience myself playing competitive golf as well). He has simply worked hard at his trade with the focus of doing well and living by a few simple principles (not to mention a little luck thrown in). You have to decide yourself whether it is worth sacrificing some happiness to reach the end goal you desire (Chang had said that attaining a Michelin would come with a stress level they do not need).

Irony is that Chang would've likely failed to get Thoreau to eat at his restaurant.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau</a>

How is this hacker news???