response 30 of 60:

Sep 29 23:08 UTC 2001

All kinds of stuff.  One thing that makes gas better is that you can 
turn it down instantly.  Roaring flame to nothing in less than a 
second.  No pasta boilovers, for example.  Also, there are infinite 
gradations of adjustment, all visible to the eye merely by looking 
under the pot or pan.  I can tell by the way the olive oil smells 
whether the heat needs to be adjusted a tiny bit up or down.  The 
difference between tender golden bits of garlic at the end of cooking 
the veal medallions, and darker overcooked bits mixed in with the 
medallions might be a slight reduction of the flame.  You sort of look 
at it and nod.  If you have any kind of cooperation at all going on 
between hand and eye and nose and brain, all this is essential.  (Also, 
when the power goes out, I'm still cooking.)

I understand that some people are inexplicably married to electricity.  
They are welcome to their obsession.  I wouldn't think of trying to 
convert them.