What do you eat?

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Ain't that a popular saying? And probably true too. What you eat, reflects on you in various manners. However, I want to share a different perspective on the food and the way it is served. Once again, the thought is borrowed and is being reproduced with my touch below. I would like to give away the credits to Mr Devdutt Pattnaik – a great thinker and a wonderful storyteller.

I was watching the Masterchef program and I was amazed at how the participants prepared the four course meal and also how they prepared the regional cuisine thali's. I started thinking the difference in the Thali and the four course meal. When a four course meal is served, the cutlery and the plates are laid out on the table. The chef or the server then brings out one course at a time and you are supposed to eat it using the utensils laid out in the manner from outside working towards in. You are expected to eat the served food with minimum alterations – adding salt or pepper. Every course is brought on after the previous one is finished and taken away.

Contrastingly, the thali is served with all the food served at once. Though the chef prepares different items in the thali with different recipe, you still have the liberty to pick and choose the items you want to eat in any order you wish. Not only you can eat different items in any order, you can also mix multiple items together to create a new flavor.

Analyzing the two different foods above, you see an example of controlled release wherein you control the way your product is utilized. The product is not customizable, but is easy to use and provides satisfaction even while controlling the user behavior. The other example is of a product which provides the features, but allows the users to customize itself and use it in any manner they wish. The customizability can lead to a situation wherein the originator can't even identify with the end product. Let's see if you can identify examples of both these kinds?

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