I get my oolong tea from one purveyor (Song Tea), and my Japanese tea from another (Kettl).

I get my tinned fish from one restaurant (The Anchovy Bar), and my oysters from another (Hog Island Oyster Co.).

My taste, and the modern American economy it seems, rewards getting really, really good at something really, really specific.

However, does this hyperspecialization impede us from the joys and value of mixing specialties?

A free market economist might argue that the free market facilitates mixing specialties between hyperspecialized actors. However, the success of huge companies with varying products and specialties suggests that coordinating under the same organization can overcome the cost of facilitating across actors in the free market.

For a consumer like me, the cost of navigating to another website or biking to another neighborhood seems minimal. So catch me heaux-ing between tea purveyors and seafood restaurants next weekend, and the next, and the next.