The other evening I was having dinner with my Partner Paul Wolff at Houston’s ZaZa Hotel and he ordered a “deconstructed Ahi roll”—which meant that the ahi, rice, avocado, ginger and seaweed skin where all separated and elegantly displayed on the plate. I looked at it and said, “Wow, that is different,” to which he replied, “ I order it all the time. I like eating the component parts versus all together.” Inspired by his comments, I ordered a “deconstructed Caesar salad” So what did that mean? It came as plain, chopped hearts of Romaine in a bowl by themselves, with separate side dishes of anchovies, croutons, Parmesan cheese, Caesar dressing and olive oil. This was a total treat, one that enabled me to carefully maneuver every ingredient on the Romaine just the way I wanted it, rather than having to settle for a combo that I might or might not find satisfactory.

Now why I am recounting all this? Because for me, discovering these deconstructed dishes was an epiphany of sorts -- one of those serendipitous “eureka moments” that made me realize how in order to devise really effective ways of eliminating toxins from our environment and dealing with all the other pressing concerns facing our society, such as health care and education, we must first “deconstruct” all of our preconceived, existing ideas, infrastructures and paradigms.

Take glass recycling, for instance. Suppose we were to deconstruct the haphazard system we now use and offer the consumer incentives to separate glass according to type and color? Think of the energy that could be saved by separating out wine and beer bottles in a manner that would allow them to be sterilized and reused, rather than simply added to the recycling pile.

Another example of what I’m talking about in the area of infrastructure is the way our eggs are produced. The fact that most existing facilities have cages, which are eligible for a depreciation allowance under our tax code, encourages major egg producers to go on using them, rather than opting for healthier cage-free eggs laid under more humane conditions. But what if we were to deconstruct this entire industry by offering tax credits for cage-free production? The Humane Society of the United States has been doing a fantastic job of demonstrating the viability of such a system, but to accomplish this on an industry-wide basis, we need to provide the financial incentives to physically separate the hens from the cages.

Similarly in need of deconstruction is the way we package and market commodities like milk and juice. Were we to start over to create the most convenient, energy-efficient way of doing so, would we settle for the familiar "gable top" carton now in use? Would we really go on creating a product that uses a valuable resource like a tree, add a petro-based wax to make it waterproof and then choose to insert a plastic screw cap on the side? The only reason we engage in this absolutely wasteful practice, in my opinion, is that the equipment for doing so already in place. In most other places in the world, milk is transported in pouches that go into pitchers in the household -- but simply because we’re set up to do it this way.

In short, I think the chef’s at the ZaZa Hotel are on to something, and I plan to take it well beyond food. So stay tuned for more of the “deconstruction” proposals I’m now in the process of formulating.