[djpr]

Fantastic to hear you have that Michelin/James Beard experience. And as someone that does, I'm sure you know that style of cooking (esp. much of Michelin) is not the entirety of gastronomy.

I spend my time around the Michelin/50 Best chef crowd, so I hear often this "respect the ingredients" mindset, but it's just one mindset. It's limiting to think of spices "covering up" a bad ingredient, when one can also think about the dish in totality - which includes everything from spices to how its cooked to the quality of the main ingredients.

One can enjoy Asador Etxebarri, and the technical excellence on how the chef expertly plays with fire to complement the main ingredient, and also enjoy mole from Oaxaca, rendang from Indonesia, and so on.

You can also combine both. I have had phenomenal laksa in the Basque country, playing on the bright flavors of Asian spices and the amazing product (seafood) found in the Basque country.

Gastronomy is that full breath of that experience. We can prefer more one of the other, but you're cheating yourself to be so dismissive.