Mise en place

Stephen Wolfram did a fantastic job explaining the difference between 4G and 5G in this podcast episode. He went so far as to describe the history of cellular data from 1G to current day. The biggest improvement with 5G technology is with efficiency.

Picture 4G technology as going out in the dark while holding a flashlight. However, you only want to look at one small twig from twenty feet away. You have no other option than to point the flashlight at the twig and surround it with light. Imagine if you could focus the flashlight’s beam to only illuminate the twig. That way, the rest of the light isn’t “wasted.” 

That’s the premise behind mise en place. Different definitions of the french phrase include “setting up,” “putting in place,” and “everything in its place.” Traditionally, it applies to chefs. Chefs will spend hours before a meal service preparing their ingredients, utensils, and stations ahead of time.

That way, when the time comes, everything can be found in its proper place. No wasted energy. The last thing you want to have happen is scrambling around for a missing ingredient. I’ve seen too many episodes of Hell’s Kitchen to think that would slide. 

Countless times, successful restaurateurs have mentioned mise en place as a crucial ingredient of success. Two interviews that I found particularly informative were with Steve Ells (Chipotle) and Nick Kokonas (The Alinea Group, Tock). 

What’s even better is that mise en place, in this overarching discussion of habits, is fractal. Think back to geometry. Fractals exhibit similar patterns at increasingly small scales called self-similarity, also known as expanding symmetry or unfolding symmetry. Tomorrow we’ll close the loop on this discussion of habits and see why that’s the case.