An empirical study comparing LaTeX to Word for preparing scientific documents appeared on PLOS ONE in mid December, just in time to ignite an intense online discussion that took place over the holiday season. Among the many comments that I read, one tweet by Michele Lanza made me realize that the study was more general than I originally thought:
The Word vs. LaTeX efficiency argument is in line with microwave food vs. actual cooking
What a terrific suggestion for related research! Back from the winter break, I decided to adapt the design of the LaTeX vs. Word study in order to pit microwave food against proper cooking. The results are, I believe, quite conclusive; and my recommendations based on them compelling. While I submitted a detailed write-up for publication, I want to give you a summary of the essential findings in the rest of this post. In my empirical research, I stuck to the original study’s design as closely as possible since it seemed as much apropos for comparing cooking methods as it was for comparing document preparation systems. In the write-up that follows you will recognize passages that mirror closely the structure and even the words of the original LaTeX vs. Word paper, since those words speak for themselves — and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
The study
This empirical study compares microwave usage to full-fledged cooking for food preparation. The experimental methodology was straightforward. We gathered 40 volunteers who use to cook their dinners — some using a microwave to defrost preprocessed food, some cooking from raw ingredients following a recipe. All participants used their own kitchen to run the experiments.
We set up three different sample meals: (1) a TV dinner with two food compartments; (2) a different brand of TV dinner with four food compartments; and (3) a dish consisting of 100 grams of spaghetti aglio e olio. Each participant had 30 minutes to cook each meal using his or her chosen food preparation technique, process, and equipment. Who chose full-fledged cooking was given access to a repository of raw ingredients; and who chose microwaving was given a supply of common TV dinners of different brands. The performance of each participant was measured for each sample meal by three variables: (1) the number of visual differences (food layout, appearance, color) between the cooked meal and the sample; (2) the number of differences in flavor between the cooked meal and the sample; and (3) the amount of hot edible mass produced within 30 minutes. Each participant also completed a questionnaire where they self-evaluated their performance.
The experimental results are unequivocal. Microwave users outperformed traditional cooks on most measures (
These results suggest that full-fledged cooking should be adopted only to prepare complex dishes mainly consisting of oil and garlic. Experienced cooks may argue that the overall quality and healthiness of properly cooked food provides for a meal experience that is considerably more enjoyable than ingurgitating a tasteless, fat-laden, appalling microwave dinner. Although this argument may be true, the differences with the recently introduced versions of TV dinners may be a tad less spectacularly obvious than they were in the past. Thus, the results show that no reasons exist to use traditional means of cooking, except possibly for dishes that contain complex combinations of olive oil and pasta.
An unexpected result of the study was that, according to the questionnaire’s answers, full-fledged cooks are highly satisfied with their experience. Despite incurring reduced usability and productivity, they assessed their work as less tiresome, less frustrating, and more enjoyable than microwave users. From a psychological perspective, the most reasonable explanation is that the cooks are delusional lunatics who are unwilling to reconsider their manifestly incorrect beliefs about their cooking ability in light of their actual poor results in faithfully reproducing low-grade industrial food.
The study’s results also have implications in terms of costs of food preparation and consumption by the public. Individuals have a responsibility to act economically and efficiently, especially in cases in which their occupation is publicly funded. No reliable data is available about how many publicly-employed workers cook their own meals, and correspondingly it is unclear the amount of taxpayer’s money that is spent worldwide by individuals who stubbornly insist on cooking food from raw ingredients over sticking to a more efficient and modern meal preparation system, which would free up their time to advance their respective field of occupation.
I therefore suggest that leading public institutions should consider accepting time-squandering food preparation practices by their employees only if this is justified by the prevalence of dishes involving spaghetti and garlic. In all other cases, said institutions should request employees to eat microwave food (or order take out). We believe that this would be a good policy for two reasons. First, the flavor and appearance of food is secondary to its nutritional values. And, second, preventing people from frittering away scarce culinary resources would save time and money to maximize the benefit of work and development for both individual institutions and the public.
P.S.: Some readers suggested two additional aspects in which microwave cooking is superior. First, adjusting the heating power is much easier with a microwave (where pushing a button immediately interrupts the flow of radiation) than with a traditional stove (where the stove’s surface may remain hot for minutes even after power is turned off). And, second, crispy food can be properly cooked using the recently introduced hot air circulation system available in several high-end microwave ovens.