FERRAN ADRIÁ But the Adriá brothers
wanted to change this. After pursuing the so-called New Catalan Cuisine in the late 1980s and early 1990s they broadened the scope and decided to change. “We said, ‘we don’t want to
do this for the rest of our lives’. We wanted to find our own language,” he explained. “In a very naïve way we
began to try to understand that this is all about the language of cooking. If you add new products or a new vision, new tools, new techniques, you make a different version of the dish. We started to create.” Te philosophy of the team,
by this point hyper focused on invention and pushing the boundaries, was clear: “Every day when we got up, we set out to do something new; something that had never before been done,” he said. In 1995 elBulli started to
gain recognition beyond the borders of Spain. “We had no money but we were very happy; it was like playing and there was no strategy. We had fun” he said. Exciting things started to
“We taught one thing: freedom. We never said, ‘you must do it
the elBulli way’”
happen in the mid-1990s. In 1995, Joel Robuchon retired and Adriá assumed the place as the world’s best chef. Tat the crown went to Spain, he said, “was the most important shift in world gastronomy in 300 years.” Te world would shift a bit
more two years later in 1997 when elBulli received the third star from the Michelin guide. “Te first time they awarded three stars to a restaurant that was so radical,” he said. While elBulli was the
number one driver of a new generation and a movement of new chefs and creative kitchens, Adriá points to one element that elBulli did different from everyone; what changed the course of gastronomy. “We taught one thing and
that was freedom. We said, ‘Do whatever you want’. We were not dogmatic. We never said
‘you must do it the elBulli way and replicate what we did’,’” he said. “Te global gastronomic map changed at the point., If it had not been for that there would not be the René Redzepi at Noma that we know today. It was the most important thing that happened at elBulli.” Te workshop was prolific, producing 140-150 new recipes every year.
Ten in 2003 came another
major moment for Adriá, elBulli, and Spanish gastronomy. Adriá appeared on the cover of Te New York Times Sunday magazine with the line ‘Te new nouvelle cuisine, how Spain became the new France’. “I have always said that I am who I am because of France. And I still say this, but this was a bomb and I became the most hated man in France,” he said. “It wasn’t because of me but for the first time France lost its monopoly on gastronomy in the world and it was an economic, social and political issue.”
DISRUPTION AND CURIOSITY
Amid this attention, elBulli continued to break down
barriers, working across disciplines with science, art and design and education, driven by a curiosity for what was possible. Of all the disruptive things
Adriá and his team did – the techniques, the workflows, the culture of sharing and collaboration – he says one stands above them all. “Te tasting menu was the single most important element that we did at elBulli. Up to that point menus had been á la carte,” he said With elBulli came snacks eaten with the fingers at the start of the dish and then a long sequence of elaborations, “We pushed it right to the limit – at one point we had 44 elaborations on the menu.” His life today is in great part
about learning again – he talked of spending weeks studying Noma to understand how it worked. All in the search for knowledge and always with an eye on the future. “Tis is the work we do to help new generations,” he concluded. “If you understand properly, you will cook well, and if you cook well, you will create well.”
The team behind the foundation has built a center of research and knowledge
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