Ferran Adrià
Fernando Adrià Acosta[a] (Catalan pronunciation: [fəˈran əðɾiˈaj əˈkɔstə]; born 14 May 1962) is a Spanish chef. He was the head chef of the El Bulli restaurant in Roses on the Costa Brava and is considered one of the best chefs in the world.[3] He has often collaborated with his brother, the renowned pastry chef Albert Adrià.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Adrià and the second or maternal family name is Acosta.
Ferran Adrià
documenta 12[edit]
In 2007, Adrià was invited to participate in documenta, "a sort of art world Olympics."[7] Adrià felt like an intruder at the event, saying "artists all over battle all their lives to receive an invitation to display their work at documenta and now I, a cook, am asked to go along!"[7] Organizer Roger Buergel told Adrià that he believed "that to create a new cooking technique was as complicated and challenging as painting a great picture. He said that he sees the work [Adrià] does as a new artistic discipline, that [Adrià's] work shows cuisine should be a new art form."[17] With this notion in mind, Buergel invited him to partake in this prestigious international event held every five years in Kassel, Germany.[17]
Adrià decided to take a different approach to this event. With the approval of the documenta committee, he set up his pavilion (i.e., exhibition space) some 850 miles from Kassel in his own restaurant, El Bulli.[18] He believed that in order to truly experience his craft one had to come into his controlled environment because what he does is "ephemeral, it's not moveable, it can't be in a museum" (it was also impractical to move all his equipment there).[18] It was then agreed upon that every day, two names would be selected at random and those names would be the diners who would be able to see his 'pavilion'.[19] The collection of these experiences were documented, along with photographs and interviews from an eclectic group of figures in the art world (including Massimo De Carlo, Bice Curiger, Anya Gallaccio, Massimiliano Gioni, Carsten Höller, Peter Kubelka, Antoni Miralda, Jerry Saltz, Adrian Searle, Vicente Todolí and Richard Hamilton), and were published in Food for Thought, Thought for Food.[20]
However, there was some controversy regarding Adrià's participation in documenta, "some questioning the idea that cooking and art were co-extensive."[7] Despite the fact that dishes from avant-garde cuisine are aesthetically pleasing (you eat first with your eyes), one of his colleagues, Chef Heston Blumenthal from the Fat Duck in Great Britain, "is uneasy about the idea that he might be an artist, although he does compare restaurant going to a trip to the theater, the cinema or an art gallery."[17] Adrià himself has compared a dinner at his restaurant to a night out at the theater.[21] When people discuss a meal there, they usually talk about the rhythm and flow of the dishes, and that the movements of the waiters and sommeliers are amazingly choreographed.[21] He said he has "turned eating into an experience that supersedes eating."[22]
Controversy[edit]
Adrià denounced his fellow 3-star Michelin cook Santi Santamaria who described his approach to cuisine as "pretentious". Traditionalist Santi Santamaria attacked Adrià's dishes in elBulli as unhealthy, alleging that "Adrià's dishes are designed to impress rather than satisfy and used chemicals that actually put diners' health at risk". Top chefs, however, accused Santamaria, who ran the 3-star Can Fabes also in Catalonia, of envy and "endangering the reputations of Spanish kitchens".[23] The criticism has split top Spanish chefs into pro- and anti-Adrià camps.[24]
German food writer Jörg Zipprick accused Adrià of more or less poisoning his customers with the additives he uses in his cuisine and said that Adrià's menu should carry health warnings: "These colorants, gelling agents, emulsifiers, acidifiers and taste enhancers that Adrià has introduced massively into his dishes to obtain extraordinary textures, tastes and sensations do not have a neutral impact on health."[25]
Domestic commercialisation[edit]
Texturas[26] is a range of products by Ferran Adrià, and his brother Albert Adrià. The products include the Sferificación, Gelificación, Emulsificación, Espesantes and Surprises lines are the result of a rigorous process of selection and experimentation. Texturas include products such as Xanthan and Algin which are packaged and labelled as Xantana Texturas and Algin Texturas respectively.[27] Xanthan gum allows the user to use a very small amount to thicken soups, sauces and creams without changing the flavour. Algin is a key component of the "Spherification Kit" and is used for every spherical preparation: caviar, raviolis, balloons, gnocchi, pellets, and mini-spheres.[28]
In October 2008, Ferran Adrià published A Day At El Bulli along with Juli Soler, and Albert Adrià. The book describes 24-hours at the El Bulli restaurant, with images, commentary, photographs and 30 recipes. Most of the recipes included are complex and require many out-of-the ordinary kitchen appliances, such as a Pacojet, freeze-dryer, liquid nitrogen tank, candyfloss machine and Perspex molds.