Details

Culinary Artistry changes my life every time I read it.

Another reason I love cooking: details.
I'm very much a details person. I firmly believe that the difference between average and great, or worthwhile and dismissible is in the details. That might be what really draws me to cooking.
In both baking and cooking, it's the smallest details–the ones that most people would either scoff at or not even notice–that make a bread or dish great. In bread making, for example, one should mix as little as possible, since the oxidation of the flour during mixing diminishes its flavor. Some bakers have even found tricks to reduce the mixing time by mixing just the water and flour, then letting it set so that the gluten can develop, then mixing some more. In this way they decrease the total mixing time by two or three minutes.
Or in cooking, when a mortar and pestle is used instead of a food processor, because the processor incorporates too much air into a pesto, causing the garlic to oxidize and become sharp.
I love that details such as these matter so much in culinary art, and that these artists are supported in striving for perfection.