On spaghetti sauce - Malcolm Gladwell

View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/malcolm-gla...
Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.
Talk by Malcolm Gladwell.

[@flyrehash5124]

my left ear really enjoyed this ted talk

[@Navonodo]

i'm glad someone else noticed this...

[@mirlomaltes]

I'm glad there's nothing wrong with my headphones after all

[@KUsery42]

My left ear has mid-range hearing loss aka “cookie bite”. Sounds like he’s talking from inside a tin can with a washcloth over it. I’ll have to put on a speaker I ‘spose. lol

[@nmarrs8539]

OMG YES!!! There are a lot of videos on KZbin that do this.

[@jeremiahnations8808]

Heres a tip. Dont use headphones.

[@myboatforacar]

"If I had asked them what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses.'" -- attributed to Henry Ford

[@MattH-wg7ou]

That is a really cool quote.

[@cletusdalglish-schommer1573]

My college roommate was from an Italian family. One summer, I had an apartment off campus and he came over for dinner and made sauce for the pasta "from scratch". Olive oil, garlic, basil, tomatoes... It was a revelation. I never knew that you could MAKE sauce, any more than I ever considered making my own ketchup for french fries. It was no thin sauce, and it was delicious. Thank you Saverio.

[@toshikotanaka3249]

I don't understand your reasoning. I get that all of us have no idea how some things are made, from a sauce to a cell phone. But not realizing that sauces could be made just mystifies me. Where did you think sauces came from? Or are you saying that you thought sauces like marinara or ketchup could only be made in factories?

[@cletusdalglish-schommer1573]

@@toshikotanaka3249 Yes. That's the basic point, growing up in the American midwest, many food items came packaged and I never saw family make them at home. These included pasta sauce, ketchup, hot dogs, and breakfast cereal. Almost the same as making your own coca-cola. Looking back it's funny, but it was "normal".

[@toshikotanaka3249]

@@cletusdalglish-schommer1573 - Yes, I can understand that now that I've thought about it. If all you've ever experienced was sauce coming from a jar, you don't think about it, you just assume that if you want sauce again, you'll need to buy another jar.

[@shawnnorton2674]

Great stories, great intellect and totally great hair, damnit it’s a trifecta of greatness.

[@jacobzaranyika9334]

Thank you 🙏 for your support Malcolm Gladwell. I appreciate your continued presence.

[@luke_cohen1]

I've always wondered how we've ended up with so many choices at the supermarket. This video explains a lot of how that happened. Then again, this is a classic Gladwell talk. He's the king of taking a topic about the world everyone's subconsciously thought about for years and explains how it came to be (which is where channels like RealLifeLore and Knowing Better came from). The whole medium of explainer channels that could answer every question our three year old could ever think of could probably be traced back to him.

[@StormEcho]

A true genius in the medium! Commenting here to come back to it later :)

[@jonhohensee3258]

@@StormEcho - Genius? Really? In what way?

[@scottbrandon9390]

Choices of cars is another one. GM has 178 vehicles to choose from. Then there are all the other automakers and their choices. So if you total it up there are over 700 models to choose from. This did not exist back in the 70s. There were fewer makers and fewer cars to choose from. It was an easier market to choose a new car from. That is all part of the paradox of choice.

[@KR-ki9hw]

Too many choices, sometimes.

[@aaronaragon7838]

Ever meander thru the maze of the potato chip isle? A chip by any other name is still a chip.

[@rarelyaccurate6252]

He's such a good story teller.

[@nonchalantd]

I don't know why, but the phrase "extra chunky" just puts a smile on my face.

[@protey117]

Is «chunky» a type of meal? Some particular sort of food? Chunky: adjective, definition in Texture of food topic from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary chunky -Texture of food topic - (of food) containing thick pieces: f.e. chunky marmalade I also have ruin into some campbell-soup stuff: www.campbells.com/campbell-soup/chunky/

[@redeyedtiger]

Extra thicc

[@silvermediastudio]

I don't know why either. None of this was "humorous" but the audience seems to give him these sympathetic "oh wait do we laugh now?" moments.

[@WestOfEarth]

This basically explains the collapse of cable industry too. By trying to supply every home with a universal entertainment package, they ended up with a lot of dissatisfied customers. These companies thought they knew what was best. But if they'd offered an ala carte model of entertainment programming, customers could have picked and paid for only the shows they wanted and enjoyed. This is the exploit streaming has capitalized on.

[@tiananman]

in cable's case, people WERE asking for an a la carte experience. Cable stubbornly refused and insisted on packaging everything together.

[@WestOfEarth]

@@tiananman Yes. I thought this was implied in my post, but I see how it was confusing.

[@tiananman]

@@WestOfEarth gotcha. Cable deserves to burn for being so pigheaded.

[@ollyrukes]

But streaming is still big bundles. The biggest streaming service, Netflix, charges you for all the shows they have, you don’t get to pick and choose what to pay for.

[@tiananman]

@@ollyrukes true but it's much cheaper than cable and you can pick the streaming service you want - and they're getting more granular.

[@TheTenthDimesion]

I closed my eyes and it turned into John Mulaney giving me life lessons but without a punchline

[@whoishamilton]

Underated comment

[@ErikKoehne]

Lol. Good call.

[@jacobl6714]

Jesus. I feel like when I'm talking to an old friend from school and then realize 7 minutes in that this is not an old friend, it's somebody who I talked to maybe 2 times in 12 years. Way to gape my 3rd eye lol jeeeez

[@Hattes]

And still people keep laughing

[@gqfiend]

I love both of these minds. Killer comment.

[@MarkTillison]

Malcolm is awesome. It's nice to see someone so eloquently distill great thought in to simple ideas we're all amazed we didn't think of before.

[@gaelminville]

well said

[@JayVBear45]

But we had but were too afraid to put forward because we were taught that there is always only one right answer.

[@pollall2793]

I feel like I’m evolving watching this.

[@w00tse]

Absolutely brilliant talk.

[@econhelp583]

Amazing presentation, a must watch!

[@cuccicucci4480]

Not if one works in marketing😊

[@Lrussell6871]

I have watched this video about a gazillion times and it never gets old.

[@omga14]

Amazing presentation.

[@leboleope5142]

I love this man. I just love him.

[@robdobson5056]

Great speech and topic.

[@kennethterrell7409]

My cat was raised on fish/seafood cat food. Now, at 13, he will not eat chicken or beef cat food. He wants his seafood. Likewise, I hypothesize that people's food preferences are for those flavors that trigger memories of childhood. My mother made spaghetti sauce with ground beef, more like a hearty beef sauce, along with certain spices. I still prefer her sauce recipe to anything that I can find commercially. I grew up with vanilla ice cream as the only option. I still prefer vanilla ice cream over all others. My grandmother prepared something we called "granny stew". I still prefer that recipe above any beef stew I can get in a fine restaurant. Etc., etc., etc. Every Jewish friend of mine starts his day with a bagel, cream cheese, and lox, and periodically craves a good falafel. Every Chinese friend I have keeps bags of freshly prepared dumplings in their refrigerator. I suggest that this phenomenon, too, goes beyond culture, but rather focuses on our endemic desire to be transported to an earlier, simpler time in our lives.

[@toshikotanaka3249]

It's why it's called "Comfort Food"

[@Temulon]

"food preferences are for those flavors that trigger memories of childhood" Not always. When I was growing up my mother made a concoction she called Chili. It was ground beef, tomato sauce, onions, kidney beans and peas. It was good, crumble some saltines in a bowl of it and you had a filling meal. But when I joined the Navy and went out to San Diego I discovered that what she was making was definitely not Chili. To this day I've never bothered to make her "Chili" again and much prefer the flavor of authentic Chili.

[@CaroLMilo-yz7fk]

I subscribe to none of it. So naturally I'm disturbed by the "comfort" comments. And I hope, and I predict this phenomenon is headed to extinction. With the broadest range of early experiences, you learn to find comfort in the entire spectrum, and with that the meaning of "habit" becomes ambiguous to nonexisting. This is an interesting question actually.

[@kennethterrell7409]

@@CaroLMilo-yz7fk Wow. You know I only threw out a hypothesis that seemed reasonable based on my own observations and experiential evidence. I didn't mean to create hostility. Let me say, however, that I don't think I "addicted" my cat to seafood cat food. The term is so lightly thrown around today as to have no meaning. Did I inadvertently condition him? I don't know. That's why I didn't speak authoritatively.

[@donniecatalano]

In my house we never ate anything but our own sauce, using my great grand mother recipes. 3 styles for different uses. Basically, heaven!

[@AP-vd4sw]

People's desires can be found clustered along a spectrum rather than converge at a single point? Got it, thanks MG

[@donniedamato]

What's important is that there's variety of products just like there's a variety of individuals instead of having to conform to what the company thinks everyone wants.

[@protey117]

10:58 BTW I like milky weak coffee & always say it when I order coffee or being asked by someone about my coffee preferences.

[@shaimaaabdelhaleem7144]

Me too ❤️ Starbucks guys now give me my coffee cup half filled because they noticed that I dump half of it every time for extra milk

[@sebastianvan7034]

“This that Grey Poupon, that Evian, that TED Talk”

[@TheHippie27]

"We will finally find a way to chew happiness." Ahhhhh I see what you did there!

[@kimcollie283]

I've read several of his books & was always pleasantly surprised at the astounding angles on old, accepted ideas he would attack quite effectively. This is my first look at him as a speaker & I am again enraptured by his wit & perspicacity. Bravo!!

[@silvermediastudio]

Unfortunately, while his tales are whimsical and thought provoking, his data analytics and statistical methods are dubious at best, and misleading at worst. A lot of his conclusions are based on selective filtering to produce correlations that have very weak if any causal relationships.

[@PatrickChoi]

My left ear liked it a lot!

[@craigkeller]

The point of the entire talk? His last line. Loved it.

[@CategoricalImperative]

It’s like Malcolm Gladwell was created in a lab as the perfect TedTalk speaker.

[@silvermediastudio]

I don't understand what the audience is laughing at though.

[@triviaturkey3194]

Says uhm too much. Brutal.

[@MattH-wg7ou]

My wife blew my mind with her spaghetti method. She doesnt cook the sauce and cook the noodles then put the sauce on the noodles. She cooks the sauce then cooks the noodles IN the sauce. And it. Is. Frikken. Amaazing.

[@PhoebeFayRuthLouise]

WHAT?!

[@JayVBear45]

Your wife must be of Mediterranean heritage as that is basically how many Italian chefs usually cook their pasta dishes or the slight variant of only partially boiling the pasta then finish cooking it in the sauce adding pasta water from the previous boiling as needed. Also if you are using fresh, not dried, pasta it does not or shouldn't need be boiled in the first place. Your wife does it more authentically. Manga!

[@Chris.starfleet]

A former marketing director of mine once said ... "People on their own make terrible decisions or sometimes not at all. Marketers need to help people make decisions in the first place and also better decisions".

[@ASD128London]

We need Malcolm Gladwells..

[@bwanagoes]

Come on people! This comment requires all kinds of likes 👍

[@vonlogan1]

At first glance, the thumbnail of Malcolm Gladwell, made me think it was Zach De La Roche ;)

[@itayb8169]

Why yes, im here for the TED talk about Moms Spaghetti

[@nozecone]

Damn! I kept waiting for him to pick up that accordion!

[@hogtownrich]

I was thinking that the whole way through! I wonder who else was booked on the TED stage that day

[@cuccicucci4480]

@@hogtownrich Howard's real job is playing that accordion at Italian weddings served with a Prego and Ragu sauce mix.😂

[@drh5779]

This lesson can be directly correlated to the way people think and what they believe cumulatively.

[@Gruegirl]

Why's this video in mono on al the left channel?

[@TheLucyblades]

I don't know but my left ear definitely enjoyed it

[@mattinboise1881]

Flip your headphones. It’s mono on the right side now.

[@ekjswim]

@@mattinboise1881 I have the ones that wrap around the back of my head. Now I look like Cyclops.

[@rebeccaspookyduran7864]

I'm 7 years late to this comment and it's still the same. I don't have in earbuds but I was holding my phone at a certain angle and it sounded like the sound was going from the left side to the right side to the left side of the right side and I was making me a little dizzy. I thought it was in my head. But Ari from 7 years ago had on headphones and had it all figured out. and now I don't think there's nothing wrong with my hearing.

[@davidjohnthistle3614]

I love my coffee, Sweet & Blonde!!!

[@hillaryclinton2415]

Spaghetti sauce is like an infinite series.. give me several kinds and I mix to make my own.

[@bennewton]

Amazing

[@irfanzahid4643]

loved it

[@dragonboy718]

wait, so i did not understand the "Pepsis" example....how/what did Howard conclude/do for Pepsi?

[@TesserId]

Giving me cravings for spaghetti with mushrooms. Oh, and throw in some sauteed onions. And, I always throw in a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil from the international section.

[@Pandaboomina]

Interesting

[@sethmair870]

Windows Key > "Turn mono on or off" (System settings) > Turn on mono audio: On

[@randyscott9034]

Awesome

[@abcsorensen]

i can not trust anyone who does not make their own sauce

[@chriss2295]

He starts of saying "Umm...Uhhh" a lot. As it goes on, his presentation is flowing freely.

[@Stew282]

You could always make your own tomato sauce from fresh ingredients. It really isn't that difficult, and you can make it just how you like it.

[@181cameron]

Exactly. It's cheaper, too... A lot of folks are under the impression that it takes too much time. Food companies seize that opportunity to market stuff to people who work long hours (many of whom work in offices and factories similar to those of the very food companies)

[@Stew282]

@@181cameron ...and those who claim it takes too much time are only going to spend three hours watching telly or wasting time on the internet after their meal, so they could easily use half-an-hour of that time to prepare a proper, healthy meal from fresh ingredients.

[@sixthSigmaSnowball]

Or as I explain to my youngster often, "if we all like the same thing, the lines would be longer."

[@Liquid_Alchemy]

"And, that's where you got your zesty pickles."

[@benjaminsmith3151]

And now you go to Walmart, and all the jars have their labels covered by the cardboard boxes they came in. So, it is a frequent occurrence for jars to get dropped and break by customers trying to read what's inside.

[@davidaucoin7280]

The food industry is just like any other industry they tend to react/respond to the latest idea and work within a certain "box". Once they are in that "box" they will develop a product based on the information/research/data that they have within that "box". This closes or confines the imagination to work with only the data presented. What Malcolm is showing is that Howard did not think within a a box but on a more linear plane. Within this thought process you could also say there is not one better than another but different variation on the same theme. You can also take that linear thinking and apply it to anything. Take Hot and Cold. What is Hot? What is cold? They are simply a variation of temperature where the starting point is zero (based on Celsius which the whole world uses except USA). In either direction will determine colder or warmer. But the question is when does it get HOT or COLD? That varies from person to person or group to group. Apply this to any industry change their way of thinking, offer more options that people did not know they needed or wanted and your profits skyrocket, until the next revolutionary idea comes along!

[@vXIR0NMANXv]

the audio for this video is messed up, it only plays out of the left speaker. It's awful on headphones.

[@bradlii]

Please fix the audio on this... ugh. I'll never understand why people don't pay attention to panning in the edit booth.

[@pearlejam7115]

I still like yellow mustard and a sauce that is not chunky. Chunky is not an appetizing word. Like moist

[@DaveLL500]

Like Oprah on a hot, muggy day in Chicago.

[@motifnyc11111]

Great presentation, but I feel he twists the truth at the end in order to fit his hypothesis. How on earth did he conclude (obviously without experiencing it) that the classic Italian tomato sauce is thin? Then he interchanges "sauce" with the word "ragu"... which in Italy specifically means a meat sauce, which would never be thin in a million years, and is always chunky. When he says thin sauce as being authentically Italian, the only example of that I can think of is the sauce on a genuine pizza from Naples.

[@hankigoe8615]

I swore I thought he was building up to, "... and that man is Chey Boyardee"

[@meevsdagr8er]

people are laughing at the most random stuff in this

[@DanMess]

I kept thinking why is everybody laughing, he doesn't even seem to be attempting a joke lol. Ted Talks audiences are usually pretty quiet

[@JayVBear45]

What a wonderful revelation. It's a more humanly comprehensive way to explain the physics hypothesis: the outcome of certain function problems is affected by the observer or of the phenomenon when it is observed (perceived). The proof is IN the pudding or puddings.

[@pickleballer1729]

I wish shoe and clothing manufacturers would watch this video. It is so hard to find shoes that fit me properly, and to find the right fit, with the right design for what I want to do in it that looks decent and is affordable is almost impossible. I have wide feet, and usually I tell this to a friend, they either say, "me too! Isn't it terrible having extra wide (or narrow) feet?" I can't buy pants that fit me except in a VERY small range of designs from a very few manufacturers, because I'm short, and need a 29' length, which almost no one makes. And I know MANY friends who are shorter than I am. When I pointed this out to, believe it or not, the CEO of a major clothing brand, while pointing out that there were 3 other people in the room with us that were shorter than me, he dismissed the idea without giving it a thought. "We'll leave that to the other guys." is what he said. BTW. I make my own spaghetti sauce. Wish I could sew.

[@ZorbaPress]

Never again will I look at my spaghetti sauce in the same way.

[@spivvo]

Big MG fan… I think he just said we are all different.

[@jakeclark66]

Variety is the life of spice

[@TheMrTTT]

I counted 18 types of Oreo cookies at the grocery store just last week.

[@sudarshanpoudel64]

15 years ago his observation was as great as today

[@ChosMan16]

“In embracing the diversity of human beings, we will find a sure way to true happiness.”

[@kimberly25christinesmith72]

Oh now I get the waynes world joke about mustard not gonna attempt to spell that brand.

[@andyjwagner]

1996 Dodge Ram pickup truck. Not everyone liked it but some people loved it enough to buy it instead of the Ford

[@Gr8Layks]

…and now Ram is absolutely killing it.

[@Untilitpases]

People know what they want, else there wouldn't be a 1/3 consistency in picking the chunky sauce while it was unbranded. Rather people don't verbailize well what they know. No sh there. Our internal world is far larger, faster, and more nuanced than we ever express.

[@StrikeNoir105E]

In this case it's more that the question wasn't "do you like this chunky" in an essay, it's more "do you like this more", which just relies on a person's gut feeling without having to test their intellect. The researchers were the ones who did the thinking on what the people wanted based off the data.

[@duncanidaho5834]

Oof email me if you get the audio sorted

[@jpbrown7668]

I wish people, particularly in the US, would look at government in this way. Accept that there's no one BEST form and just let people from different nations decide what is best for themselves

[@CategoricalImperative]

Amen JP

[@jpbrown7668]

@morgan1027 Yes of course, I'm certainly not arguing that. There are definitely "wrong" forms of government. I personally view any form of government that does not provide for the majority of its population as wrong, but it is not for me or my country to decide, one sided, that the Japanese or the Egyptians for instance MUST become a western-style liberal democracy, completely disregarding cultural differences and historical precedents in those countries, while at the same time ignoring the present economic situation in said countries and the current needs and wants of the population there. All I'm arguing is for countries and people to stop trying to impose their own views and values on others. Let them see your values and views and let them decide whether or not to adopt them for themselves, either as a whole or in part, as it best suits them.

[@brettb9194]

This is the guy Ayn Rand wrote about - Malcolm Gadlfy could be the twin brother of Ellsworth M Toohey in _The Fountainhead_

[@Urine_Urine_Urine]

"Um" -Malcom Gladwell

[@derekboyt3383]

On a dog at the ballgame I want regular mustard; however, when I have bratwurst and sauerkraut I want a Dijon. My point is that sauce preference changes based on how and when it is used. If he tested mustard at a ballgame I think we would see more of a plotted curve. Moreover, most people don’t know what they want in an experience until someone gives them one that is highly satisfying.

[@linshanhsiang]

Remember when Obama was attacked for putting Dijon mustard on his sandwich? Lordy lordy!

[@bassdroppointsource]

Spot on. Only issue is the claim that Ragu is at all related to genuine Italian tomato sauce other than they both contain tomatoes of some sort

[@jacobl6714]

I'm currently still on the look out for a Double Plus Extra Chungus Thicc-Boy Sauce, ya feel me campbells?

[@MnJaLo]

I knew Sideshow Bob had a lovely singing voice, but wow…

[@jjpurplesheep6563]

my teacher gave me this video evaluate ad write about, i-

[@bugoobiga]

9:20 Extra Chunky Garden is my new Spirit Sauce

[@astrid.00.7]

Never thought I’d be saying this, but thank goodness for the comments section… If you want to listen with only one earbud in, you’ll spend a long time troubleshooting if you wear Jabra earbuds because only the right earbud of that brand works solo!

[@ChrisTopheRaz]

As an Italian chef with a vast knowledge in sugo pomodoros of real Italy, I’ll say that traditional pomodoro is not that thin and does not sink to the bottom unless it’s not cooked properly. I’m not sure where he gets that idea. There are many chefs in Italy who talk in great detail about the history of the pomodoro and that’s just not the case at all. Ragu was thinning more for profits, not tradition.

[@blackroyalbrand1287]

Lol sure my guy just answer one question “ what makes you a Chef ”?

[@linshanhsiang]

Yes that "sinks to the bottom" sounded weird.

[@blackroyalbrand1287]

@@linshanhsiang “Art is fluid and it’s value is perceived only by the beholder of it” The fact that you don’t this is beyond me 🤷🏾‍♂️😭

[@Gr8Layks]

The breakfast cereal aisle makes me dizzy.

[@Gr8Layks]

Thousands of choices is like no choice at all.

[@jpvgoncalves]

TED 2004: World hunger TED 2013: Spaggetti Sauce

[@frankenviews4069]

So finally a guy discovered the importance of Diversity and customization and . . .

[@Rainalot]

Sideshow Bob?

[@hellbenderdesign]

Make sure to watch all the way to the ending, he dips his whole head in spaghetti sauce.

[@jamesd.5940]

Do I enjoy him because he’s quaint, funny and enlightening or because my hair is similar? I honestly don’t know

[@welchmadness]

This has been on my recommended list for a few days, but I cannot watch it with audio only in the left channel. Boo.

[@mydogdeli]

This reminds me of Henry Ford saying that if he'd asked the public what they wanted, they'd have said, 'a faster horse'.

[@Jukkala]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aH_Zoo2eqJqZf5o

[@chicofoxo]

Thanks Howard Moskowitz, but look at what's happened since with this TED talk v=1pq5jnM1C-A (Sheena Lyengar: How to make choosing easier)

[@avjake]

Malcom is the antithesis of Death by PowerPoint.

[@tom80]

Segmentation anyone? Why is this a revelation?

[@garyv2498]

People that say there's too many choices at the supermarket don't want you to have your extra chunky spaghetti sauce. They want to pidgin hole everyone into a one size fits all solution. There's no happiness there.

[@kitcoffey7194]

Actually too many choices has been proven to lead to depression and frustration

[@SoloJetMan]

I'm genuinely surprised we don't an "extra thicc" sauce on market shelves yet.

[@baerlauchstal]

I dunno, you know. American spicy yellow mustard is a great product; a classic, in fact. Dijon mustard isn’t *better*. (I’ve no skin in this game, I’m a Limey.) But Dijon mustard is better in a vinaigrette. It’s surely not only a matter of people clustering. Context comes into this too.

[@FallNorth]

I'm sure there is a validity in what he says BUT: AFAIK The business model of the "discount supermarkets" in Europe (LIDL/ALDI etc) is precisely the opposite. It's to produce one product that meets the market (e.g. a pasta sauce) in each buyer segment and sell it as efficiently as possible. And these supermarkets are going nowhere!

[@rasmusrasmusson]

Walking down the cereal aisle in a US supermarket (which I last did in the 90's), it's hard to believe that all of these products were the result of the food industry asking customers what they want. Gladwell is a great story teller, but I don't believe that Moscowitz came up with the idea to test variations in products and then sometimes conclude that there is a market for more than one variation. In product development there is a famous (though probably not accurate) quote by Henry Ford that goes: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.". Steve Jobs also had the attitude that customers don't know what they want. And of course in restaurants, chefs don't ask guests what they want, they test new dishes and keep those that people buy.

[@jjww30]

I’m beginning to think Howard should have given this talk and not Sideshow Bob.

[@Olole]

Don't listen to this with headphones

[@cisium1184]

I make my own tomato sauce.

[@kitcoffey7194]

👍👍👍👏👏👏👏😎