It is a standard way to analyse a situation todescribe something as necessary but not sufficient. For example, it is necessary to happiness to have enough money to buy food, clothes, water and shelter; but these things (and the money to buy them) are not in themselves sufficient to guarantee human happiness. The missing ingredients are perhaps family, friendship, love and a sense of self-worth and acheivement. In the kitchen it is necessary to have a certain level of technology in order to allow you to make certain dishes, but the technology intself is not sufficient to guarantee delicious food.
Indeed sometimes the ingredients are more important than the technology. Whether you have a coffee maker or cafetiere is not as important as the quality of the coffee beans that you use. Even the most rudimentary technology will make a better cup of coffee with real coffee rather than making a cup of instant coffee.
For soups, juices and smoothies it is important to get a good liquidizer or juicer to get the best results. It is near impossible to use elbow grease to mash fruits or vegetables up to the same perfect consistency as a good liquidizer can do.
One piece of technology for the kitchen that I’m trying to find is a machine that will open green coconuts. At the moment I use an old rusty machete. My wife is continually worried I’m going to take one of my fingers off. A machine to open older coconuts in their husks would also be fantastic. One also that can remove the coconut meat without me having to go at the shards of coconut with a potato peeler. Which reminds me – I’m left-handed. Why is everything in a kitchen always designed for right-handed people? No wonder the average life expectancy for left handed people is shorter than for right-handed people!
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