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Sam Altman was a guest on the Financial Times’ Lunch with the FT (which, apparently, is an interview-executives-while-they-cook type of show). FT columnist Bryce Elder watched the video, and revels in some delightful pettiness over Altman’s choices of olive oil, coffee maker, and knife:
Here are three things we found out about Altman based on repeated watching of 22 uncomfortable seconds of his cooking prep.
For example, on Altman’s olive oil usage:
That’s Graza. It’s a trendy brand of olive oils from Jaén in southern Spain, the world’s olive-growing capital, that are sold through Whole Foods and direct. Cute packaging and squeeze-bottle convenience have helped build Graza’s following among Instagram types, but its big innovation was to split the range into easy-to-understand categories. There’s Sizzle, which is advertised as being best for cooking, and Drizzle, which is for dipping and finishing.
Altman sizzles with Drizzle.
According to Elder, Graza Drizzle costs $21, and is meant to be used as a “finishing oil”: it’s an “early harvest” oil packed with flavor—flavors that dissipate with heat. Says Elder:
Frying with early harvest is insanely wasteful and, quite frankly, an offence to horticulture.
The coffee maker and knife takedowns are equally petty, and I’m absolutely here for it.