Mayo’s Clinic: The Habit of Curiosity
01 February 2014
Wondering and thinking about everything that is done in the kitchen—and considering how and why—are important behaviors we want to build in our students and encourage a stance of questioning.
By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT
For much of the fall, we discussed helping students learn about themselves, assisting them in taking charge of their lives and in other ways building their professional skills. This spring, we will focus on another aspect of working with students: helping them expand their curiosity and their creativity. This month, we will discuss developing the habit of curiosity.
A Habit of Curiosity
The habit of curiosity is a pattern of looking at and wondering about things throughout the day. It involves noticing when things do not work the way you expected them and asking why things happen the way they do. Since it means asking a range of questions—who, what, where, when, how and why—this process of thinking actively engages the mind and builds critical-thinking skills, something so necessary for our students.
Unfortunately, there are many people who can look at a loaf of bread, a plate presentation, a clear soup, a glass of wine or a composed salad and not see anything. They do not wonder why it was prepared the way it was, where it came from, what was involved, what else could have happened, and why it smells or tastes like it does. While that acceptance without noticing and thinking may be acceptable in a restaurant patron, it does not belong in a professional chef or a student learning to become a chef. Wondering and thinking about everything that is done in the kitchen and considering how and why are important behaviors we want to build in our students. Therefore, we need to encourage a stance of questioning and a habit of curiosity.
The habit of curiosity does not mean that our students have to question everything all the time. If they started to ask philosophical questions about why the stove knobs turn left or right, they would probably never get their stations set up nor their assignments completed. However, they can and should develop a pattern of noticing and wondering what they are doing and asking questions in their own heads about why they are doing it that way and how else they could do it.
If our students spent just five minutes a day noticing something that happened differently than what was expected, they would learn a tremendous amount and be eager to read more. They would begin to develop a lifetime learning perspective. Without any effort, they would regularly observe people around them, consider what they said, think about how they said it, and develop ideas about how to respond. They would start to become more aware of what they expect to happen and notice when things do not happen that way.
In fact, they would effortlessly start to ask the following questions about cooking:
- Why do these items combine they way they do?
- How come it happened this way?
- What made it work?
- Why did the sequence lead to success?
- What else could have happened?
- What would make it come out differently?
- How can I improve it next time?
Considering these questions will make them much better cooks and help them develop the habits they need to become true culinary professionals.
Its Value
Being aware of these questions and using them on just one food item or activity a day will transform our students’ perspectives about learning and encourage an attitude that supports learning in many ways. If students wondered why recipes worked the way they did, if students considered why a sequence of steps needs to follow a certain order, if students thought about alternative ways of preparing food items, they would double or even triple the insights that they gather from their laboratory experience.
Asking questions does not mean they do not need to learn standard ways of doing things. It just means that they need to consider why the standard methods work as well as they do and what can be done differently. Promoting this point of view will build their practice of wondering and their habits of curiosity, both of which are the hallmarks of true professionals. What better gift can we give our students than to help them learn these ways of proceeding through their culinary careers and their personal lives?
Summary
Thank you for reading this column about habits of curiosity. Next month, we will discuss strategies for encouraging curiosity, and in the future, ways to promote creativity among students. If you have suggestions for other topics or teaching practices you want to share, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future Mayo’s Clinics.
Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, was most recently a clinical professor at New York University. Principal of Mayo Consulting Services, he continues to teach around the globe, and is a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide. His latest book, Planning an Applied Research Project in Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports (Wiley, 2013), debuted last autumn.