KITCHEN PRACTICE 2 — Build-Your-Own vs. Pre-Composed ================================================== Chapter: Mexican Cookery 10 — Capstone: A Build-Your-Own Taco Spread TASK ---- Serve the same components a second way — pre-assembled by you into one fixed, composed taco per person, rather than let diners build their own. Reflect on what's genuinely different about the two approaches. WHAT TO DO ---------- 1. Prepare the same components as in Kitchen Practice 1 — filling, salsa, garnish, lime, and fresh tortillas. 2. This time, assemble one fixed, finished taco per diner yourself, choosing the fillings and amounts, and serve each person their own already-composed plate. 3. Reflect honestly on how the meal felt compared to the build-your-own version — pacing, choice, and overall experience. WHAT TO EXPECT -------------- - The food itself should taste essentially the same, since nothing about the individual components has changed. - The meal is likely to feel noticeably more like the sequential- course siblings — a single, cook-decided version of the dish — and less participatory. - There's no strictly "correct" answer here — the point is a genuine reflection on how the same ingredients feel different depending on who does the assembling and when. WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ---------------------------- This exercise directly tests the chapter's own central structural claim — that leaving assembly to the diner is a genuine, felt difference, not just a cosmetic serving choice — by trying the alternative and noticing what's lost.