Less is More

Do you love cars and motorsport? If so, then you might be familiar with this famous quote from Colin Chapman. Mr. Chapman is the founder of Lotus Cars, a maker of hand-built racing and street machines for over 75 years. Movie examples of his works include the James Bond submarine from “The Spy Who Loved Me,” and the low-slung exotic from the 1990 hit, “Pretty Woman.” These days his quote

and this philosophy are applied to areas including product development, design, and of course, culinary arts.

I typically see the direct opposite of light and simple when cooking with people in their homes. My job is to show people how to get the most out of their appliances so I think I’ve seen it all. Universally, most people have too much stuff

in their kitchens. Too many pots, pans, lids, gadgets, 17 wooden spoons, 13 knives, every size pot in one-quart increments. Cast iron pans, left unused for years as cherished family heirlooms, are deemed too precious to risk being improperly

washed. The worst offender had a collection of insulated metal drinking mugs that took up 3/4 of her walk-in pantry. Generally, I’ve discovered that aesthetics wins out over functionality.

"If cooking feels like a chore. you're probably working too hard."

I probably take my own advice too far. We have a small kitchen at home and so I only have space for one of each. One small pot, one big pot, one small pan, one big pan, one small ladle, one big ladle—you get the picture. I try to eliminate any single-use gadgets and don’t even have any pot lids (I just use my large pan).

When I travel into our Fine Lines customers’ homes I need to bring everything for a cooking class for 10 people including groceries and equipment, so efficiency is key. This is why nearly everything we create has five major ingredients or less. It is my firmly held belief that this light and simple approach makes for a learning experience that is approachable, delicious and easy to recreate.

If Colin Chapman had discovered cooking, I like to think his engineering approach would have also propelled his cooking to the highest levels and we would all be enjoying classic preparations, made famous for their light simplicity.

In the end, I’ll propose my philosophy and quote, “If cooking feels like a chore, you’re probably working too hard.”

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