Mike was ecstatic when he heard his name called. He had just won his labs raffle, which was a meal for two at Sushi Kurosaki, the hip, newly Michelin-starred, omakase restaurant downtown. 

Growing up, Mike’s fine dining experiences were limited to Chinese take-out, or on special occasions, Applebee’s - but only after 10pm for half-priced apps. Now, as a first year PhD student in New York City his dining habits were arguably even worse, save the occasional birthday meal. Having just watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi, he was ready to stop salivating at his screen and finally get a taste of the real deal. 

When I was in fourth grade, my school participated in the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. This test pit small children against each other in a variety of “fitness” tasks, such as seeing how quickly they could move a wooden block from one side of the room to the other, or if the child could touch their toes, and if they could, how much farther they could reach. Those who performed well received a certificate that ultimately didn’t mean anything, whereas those who performed poorly simply received crushing blows to their self esteem.