PROFILE
Neuva
Spain’s prodigious gastronome, Ferran Adrià, sways
culinary perceptions about the way we experience food
If molecular gastronomy is a style
of cuisine that meshes laboratory
and kitchen, then one could argue
Ferran Adrià of El Bulli is to Spain
as Heston Blumenthal of the Fat
Duck is to the U.K., or as Grant
Achatz of Alinea is to Chicago.
Although, if you asked Adrià,
El Bulli’s chef patron and co-
owner, he’d say all food is molec-
ular and he’d probably point to a
loaf of bread to illustrate his
point. Instead, Adrià prefers the
term “deconstructivist” to
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Cuisine
By Rehana Begg
describe his mode of cooking.
His creative methods are intend-
ed to “provide unexpected con-
trasts of flavour, temperature and
texture,” so diners are provoked
and surprised since “nothing is
what it seems.”
According to Adrià’s mani-
festo, ingredients should be con-
sidered for both their gastronom-
ic and scientific composition. A
self-described son of the nouvelle
cuisine cooking style, Adrià takes
familiar ingredients and “manip-
FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY JANAURY 2009
ulates” them so they render new
tastes, textures and techniques. A
mango, for example, with its bal-
ance of sweet and acidic flavours,
is reminiscent of “peach, banana
and passion fruit,” and the flesh
can be thinly sliced with a man-
dolin so its texture resembles al
dente pasta and can be used as cas-
ings for fruit-and-vegetable-filled
ravioli. Or, by slowly deflating a
balloon containing orange-flower
essence while patrons enjoy a sor-
bet, their perspectives on the way
food is presented is challenged.
To begin to appreciate El Bulli’s
influence, one must acknowledge
the restaurant is not about nour-
ishment but about a sensual expe-
rience. At least two million foodies
a year contact El Bulli to reserve
8,000 seats so they can experience
the unique flavours and catch a
glimpse of Adrià’s extraordinary
techniques. The restaurant opens
only six months of the year and
serves about 50 people per day.
A pilgrimage site for destina-
tion diners, El Bulli is situated on
a remote beach in the bay of Cala
Montjoi on Spain’s Costa Brava,
15
 “ Two million foodies a year contact El Bulli
to reserve 8,000 seats so they can experience
the unique flavours and catch a glimpse of
Adrià’s extraordinary techniques”
near the city of Roses. Each guest
is served a tasting menu of about
30 dishes over four hours that
starts with cocktails (such as a
Margarita) and snacks (black
olive madeleins), progresses
through tapas (baby snails in
court bouillon with crab
escabeche and amaranth with
fennel) and avant-desserts
(peach liquid or sweet vanilla
potato purée), until the meal
winds down with desserts
(chocolate air-LYO with crisp
raspberry sorbet and eucalyptus
water ice) and a finale course
called “morphings” (pineapple
MAD SCIENTIST: infused with fennel and star
Ferran Adrià, at work in anise). The dishes are typically
El Bulli’s kitchen.
finished in the dining room by
the serving staff who have a
didactic role in explaining to the
diner how the dish should be
eaten to make the most of the
experience. The average guest
check is €200 (CDN$317), not
including drinks.
While Adria’s creative menu is
a major reference around the
world for new Spanish cuisine,
and it’s elevated to the level of art
by some — in 2007 he was the
first chef to have ever been invit-
ed to participate in Documenta
12, the prestigious avant-garde
art event in Kassel, Germany —
he sees his himself foremost as a
chef. “But the consequence that
results from this can be seen in
many ways,” says Adrià, 46, who
does not speak English and was
interviewed with the assistance of
a translator on his visit to
Toronto while promoting his lat-
est book, A Day at elBulli: An
Insight Into the Ideas, Methods
and Creativity of Ferran Adrià.
16 FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY JANAURY 2009
“Obviously what we are trying to
do is create more than just a fine
meal. You can eat very well at
many places in the world, but to
have it be a unique experience —
not that many.”
Adrià’s professional career
evolved from humble beginnings
as a dishwasher in his teens. In
1982 and just 22 years old, he
joined El Bulli to complete a
stage when the restaurant was
French and named for the former
owners’ bulldogs. About two
years later he returned to the
restaurant to become chef de par-
tie and was promoted that same
year to co-executive chef.
The marriage of a strong
restaurant brand and the chef’s
lofty reputation has played a piv-
otal role in El Bulli’s international
acclaim. When Adrià came on
board, the restaurant had already
cultivated a gastronomic standing,
earning two Michelin stars in 1976
and 1983. However, in accordance
with Michelin Guide practice, the
second star was stripped when
Adrià joined as head chef. Under
Adrià’s “Catalan-Spanish-Russian
sentiment,” El Bulli regained its
second star and a subsequent third
and final one in 1997.
Adrià’s reputation as a chef
who professes “all products have
the same gastronomic value,
regardless of price,” in concert
with the restaurant’s remote loca-
tion and the fact it employs 70
people for 14 hours a day to serve
just 50 patrons, are confounding
clues to the restaurant’s concep-
tual and operational success. On
the business end, Adrià has
expanded activities to catering,
consulting, producing books and
delivering guest lectures at presti-
gious institutes around the world.
Also in the “off-season,” when
the restaurant is closed, Adrià
spends time researching new
ideas and developing creative
ways to prepare food, either in
his “secret” workshop near the
restaurant at Cala Montjoi, or at
Portaferrissa, his workshop in
Barcelona. Rather than work on
new dishes, it’s a time for Adrià to
investigate new techniques and
concepts that have not been used
in cookery, such as perfecting his
spherification technique (tiny
droplets from a syringe are made
to form “caviar”), testing new
gelling agents and using siphons
to create foams. The months lead-
ing to the opening of the restau-
rant each year are devoted to
developing dishes using his
new techniques.
In line with his experimental
philosophy, Adrià says his job is “to
create a new language in cuisine.”
But that language isn’t likely to
translate anywhere else soon
because of El Bulli’s unique loca-
tion. “Bulli is not in the city and it
would never be in the city. If I
were to find somewhere [for a new
restaurant], it would be because of
the temperature.” He gauges the
ideal temperature for degustation
to be between 20 and 23°C.
“Haute cuisine can’t be export-
ed,” quips Adrià by way of apology
that there’d be no sampling at his
book launch. No doubt, few peo-
ple will ever have the good fortune
of an authentic El Bulli experience.
Still, to those who pay homage,
Adrià’s pervasive contribution as
a vanguard of contemporary nou-
velle cuisine is priceless. ●
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