Is There Room for Techno-Cuisine in Today's Culinary Arts?
by Judi Sandall
judi.sandall@chefschoolreview.com
Chef School Review Columnist
Chef Ferran Adrià’s techno-cuisine is generating buzz throughout the international culinary community—from foodies and chefs alike. Although Forbes.com considers him a culinary luminary, he didn’t make their list of most influential chefs only because he’s not practicing his culinary arts in the U.S. However, Adrià leads Time magazine’s recent list of tomorrow’s most influential innovators in the culinary arts, and deservedly so.
Surrealist Culinary Arts
King of the kitchen at El Bulli, a restaurant located in Cala Montjoi, a small town north of Barcelona on Spain’s Costa Brava, Adrià has been called the ‘Salvador Dali of the Spanish Kitchen.’ In his culinary arts version of Dali’s surrealist take on common objects, Adrià deconstructs traditional dishes and reconstructs them in unusual and often startling ways—parmesan ice cream sandwiches and gazpacho lollipops—to name two examples.
Call Way Ahead for Reservations
El Bulli, open seasonally from May to September, starts accepting reservations for the following season in mid-October. Regular patrons advise getting your dinner reservation first and then making your travel plans. El Bulli receives 40,000 reservation requests each season for the 40 seats that are available each night.
Head chef of El Bulli before he was 25, Adrià has been lauded for his culinary ‘mad-scientist’ experiments including espuma, foam created by aeration. He uses this technique to change the texture of an amazing variety of food, including tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus, and cheese. Visitors to El Bulli can enjoy a gin fizz with hot lemon foam, an icy piña colada with coconut foam, or a demitasse of ‘not really but close to’ mousse-like coffee.
Do You Believe in Magic?
According to a ChocolateandZucchini.com blogger following a recent culinary excursion from Paris to El Bulli, “every single item managed to amaze and entertain, making the whole experience quite dazzling, both on an intellectual and sensory level.”
Featured prominently in print media, including Le Monde and The New York Times, chef Adrià explains his culinary arts philosophy, “Creativity is what you see that others don’t…I can explain everything to you—except the magic, which is what really matters.”
Sources
Chocolate and Zucchini
StarChefs.com
The Wine News
About the Author
Judi Sandall is a technical writer and a regular Chef School Review columnist. She is a graduate of the State University of New York, with a BA in English Literature.
Posted on November 13, 2006 at 11:52 AM
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