Santi Santamaria, chef of El Racó de Can Fabes outside of Barcelona. died today in Singapore. The first chef in Catalonia to earn three Michelin stars, he was known for adapting Catalan flavors to French techniques. But his greatest fame may rest with the very public attack he launched on his fellow Catalan chef Ferran Adrià of elBulli, at a time the latter was being hailed as the best chef in the world.
Santamaria came relatively late to the profession. Born in 1957, he studied to be an industrial engineer, and never received formal training as a chef. That didn't stop him in 1981, however, from opening a simple tavern in the Catalan farmhouse where he, his father, and his grandfather had all been born. At first, Santamaria contented himself stewing white sausage with beans for 395-peseta meals. But as he gradually learned about Juan Mari Arzak's new Basque cooking and France's nouvelle cuisine, his own dishes became more sophisticated. At a time when Spanish cuisine was known for little more than gazpacho and paella, Santamaria began receiving acclaim for elevating the flavors of his beloved Catalan countryside by wedding them to the techniques of nouvelle cuisine. He earned his first Michelin star in 1988.
(Debating the merits of molecular gastronomy.)
He would go on to open successful restaurants in Madrid, Barcelona, and Dubai, and eventually earn a total of seven Michelin stars. But Spain's culinary fortunes were pointing in a different direction. As chefs like Arzak and Adria began to experiment wildly with cuisine's possibilities, Spain became known for an avant-garde style of cooking that had few precedents. "In terms of creativity and breaking new ground, he didn't have an impact," says Pau Arenos, food writer for the Barcelona newspaper El Periodico. "He never really understood techno-emotional cuisine. He was never comfortable with it."
(See how Ferran Adrià brought his cuisine to Harvard.)
That discomfort first rose to the surface at the 2007 edition of Madrid Fusion, an international chefs conference. Speaking earthy truth to gastronomic power, Santamaria used his presentation to lambast his audience for "snobbery" and reminded them that "all good meals end with a good shit."
But it was in 2008 that he really provoked a scandal. Receiving a prize in May for his new book, The Kitchen Laid Bare, Santamaria took the opportunity to criticize fellow chefs for "legitimating forms of cooking that distance them from the traditional." Calling on Spain's health minister, who was seated in the audience, to protect the unknowing public against the use of the additives sometimes used in haute cuisine to achieve spectacular effects, he railed against "cooking with chemicals like methylcellulose whose consumption could be dangerous." And in case anyone missed the reference to elBulli's famous chef, he named names. "I have an enormous conceptual and ethical divorce with Ferran; he and his team are going in a direction contrary to my principles."
(Comment on this story.)
Within days, the national and international press alike were chortling over the "War of the Stovetops." The European chefs' organization, Eurotoques, issued a statement expressing its indignation at Santamaria's "act of aggression." Madrid chef Sergi Arola accused Santamaria of mounting a personal vendetta "out of envy." Andoni Luis Aduriz, of the two-starred Mugaritz, told the New York Times, "Santi is the Hugo Chavez of gastronomy. He loves to spark controversy with his populist talk." Adriá himself worried the injury that Santamaria's comments would do to Spanish cuisine's reputation abroad.
Spanish cuisine survived the trauma. Santamaria, however, did not for long. He went in a way befitting a great chef: while eating lunch in one of his own restaurants in Singapore. Restaurant manager Ruben Mallat said it may have been brought about by a heart attack or embolism, though the cause has yet to be determined. Aduriz lamented his passing. "Despite all the discrepancies and differences we had, today is a sad day for Spanish cuisine."
Source: Time
Santamaria came relatively late to the profession. Born in 1957, he studied to be an industrial engineer, and never received formal training as a chef. That didn't stop him in 1981, however, from opening a simple tavern in the Catalan farmhouse where he, his father, and his grandfather had all been born. At first, Santamaria contented himself stewing white sausage with beans for 395-peseta meals. But as he gradually learned about Juan Mari Arzak's new Basque cooking and France's nouvelle cuisine, his own dishes became more sophisticated. At a time when Spanish cuisine was known for little more than gazpacho and paella, Santamaria began receiving acclaim for elevating the flavors of his beloved Catalan countryside by wedding them to the techniques of nouvelle cuisine. He earned his first Michelin star in 1988.
(Debating the merits of molecular gastronomy.)
He would go on to open successful restaurants in Madrid, Barcelona, and Dubai, and eventually earn a total of seven Michelin stars. But Spain's culinary fortunes were pointing in a different direction. As chefs like Arzak and Adria began to experiment wildly with cuisine's possibilities, Spain became known for an avant-garde style of cooking that had few precedents. "In terms of creativity and breaking new ground, he didn't have an impact," says Pau Arenos, food writer for the Barcelona newspaper El Periodico. "He never really understood techno-emotional cuisine. He was never comfortable with it."
(See how Ferran Adrià brought his cuisine to Harvard.)
That discomfort first rose to the surface at the 2007 edition of Madrid Fusion, an international chefs conference. Speaking earthy truth to gastronomic power, Santamaria used his presentation to lambast his audience for "snobbery" and reminded them that "all good meals end with a good shit."
But it was in 2008 that he really provoked a scandal. Receiving a prize in May for his new book, The Kitchen Laid Bare, Santamaria took the opportunity to criticize fellow chefs for "legitimating forms of cooking that distance them from the traditional." Calling on Spain's health minister, who was seated in the audience, to protect the unknowing public against the use of the additives sometimes used in haute cuisine to achieve spectacular effects, he railed against "cooking with chemicals like methylcellulose whose consumption could be dangerous." And in case anyone missed the reference to elBulli's famous chef, he named names. "I have an enormous conceptual and ethical divorce with Ferran; he and his team are going in a direction contrary to my principles."
(Comment on this story.)
Within days, the national and international press alike were chortling over the "War of the Stovetops." The European chefs' organization, Eurotoques, issued a statement expressing its indignation at Santamaria's "act of aggression." Madrid chef Sergi Arola accused Santamaria of mounting a personal vendetta "out of envy." Andoni Luis Aduriz, of the two-starred Mugaritz, told the New York Times, "Santi is the Hugo Chavez of gastronomy. He loves to spark controversy with his populist talk." Adriá himself worried the injury that Santamaria's comments would do to Spanish cuisine's reputation abroad.
Spanish cuisine survived the trauma. Santamaria, however, did not for long. He went in a way befitting a great chef: while eating lunch in one of his own restaurants in Singapore. Restaurant manager Ruben Mallat said it may have been brought about by a heart attack or embolism, though the cause has yet to be determined. Aduriz lamented his passing. "Despite all the discrepancies and differences we had, today is a sad day for Spanish cuisine."
Source: Time
El Bulli Foundation to open in 2014
Madrid (ACN).- El Bulli's Restaurant will close its doors on June 30, 2011, but on the exact same day, El Bulli Foundation, the new initiative by Catalan Chef Ferran Adrià, will open.
The foundation is the new challenge of this vanguard and internationally-rewarded chef that aims to investigate cuisine from the inside. Adrià presented the main objectives of his foundation to MadridFusión. With the motto 'Freedom to create', the foundation will work with an annual budget of between 600.000 and 800.000 euros The money will be invested directly by Adrià and his partners, Juli Soler and Albert Adrià.
To change a restaurant into a foundation means changing the appearance of the famous El Bulli. The restaurant will not be destroyed, but a new building will be constructed around it. Adrià explained that 'El Bulli' will become an 'archive' where visitors will be able to check the creations of the foundation. The area will also have a space for 'brainstorming' that from time to time, will operate as a cinema too. Finally, the most important place of all will be the experimenting area, where chefs, journalists, philosophers or marketing experts will come together to explore the possibilities of the vanguard cuisine.
'Green' Bulli
The 'El Bulli Foundation' aims to be 'ecological' and 'sustainable'. That is why Adrià has asked to the architect Enric Ruiz Geli for a 'vital' and 'organic' structure for the new buildings to bring some modernity to the area. According to him, 'if there is no craziness, it will become something normal' and that would not be 'innovative'. Ruiz Geli considers the project to be a 'pilot of sustainable architecture' that would be 'unique in the world'. The aim is to find a connection between the building and the essence of the Bulli experience.
The building will be ecologic and will be integrated into the landscape. The objective is to produce no CO2 emissions, so that the building itself creates all the energy it needs from the natural resources available. They even want to go the extra mile, and they are thinking about the possibility of asking all collaborators to go to work with electric cars or to avoid the use of air conditioning.
Internet
All the work and research developed within the Foundation will be available online, according to Ferran Adrià. The Catalan chef thinks that if all the contents are on the Internet, the Foundation will have more pressure to work well and chefs will get external inputs about their work.
Ferran Adrià said it is 'crucial' to receive 'feed-back' from the audience about the task that will be developed by the members of the Foundation. Although gastronomy fans won't be able to book a table to eat in the Foundation, Adrià is exploring the possibilities of inviting people to taste their creations.
Source: Catalan News Agenecy
Madrid (ACN).- El Bulli's Restaurant will close its doors on June 30, 2011, but on the exact same day, El Bulli Foundation, the new initiative by Catalan Chef Ferran Adrià, will open.
The foundation is the new challenge of this vanguard and internationally-rewarded chef that aims to investigate cuisine from the inside. Adrià presented the main objectives of his foundation to MadridFusión. With the motto 'Freedom to create', the foundation will work with an annual budget of between 600.000 and 800.000 euros The money will be invested directly by Adrià and his partners, Juli Soler and Albert Adrià.
To change a restaurant into a foundation means changing the appearance of the famous El Bulli. The restaurant will not be destroyed, but a new building will be constructed around it. Adrià explained that 'El Bulli' will become an 'archive' where visitors will be able to check the creations of the foundation. The area will also have a space for 'brainstorming' that from time to time, will operate as a cinema too. Finally, the most important place of all will be the experimenting area, where chefs, journalists, philosophers or marketing experts will come together to explore the possibilities of the vanguard cuisine.
'Green' Bulli
The 'El Bulli Foundation' aims to be 'ecological' and 'sustainable'. That is why Adrià has asked to the architect Enric Ruiz Geli for a 'vital' and 'organic' structure for the new buildings to bring some modernity to the area. According to him, 'if there is no craziness, it will become something normal' and that would not be 'innovative'. Ruiz Geli considers the project to be a 'pilot of sustainable architecture' that would be 'unique in the world'. The aim is to find a connection between the building and the essence of the Bulli experience.
The building will be ecologic and will be integrated into the landscape. The objective is to produce no CO2 emissions, so that the building itself creates all the energy it needs from the natural resources available. They even want to go the extra mile, and they are thinking about the possibility of asking all collaborators to go to work with electric cars or to avoid the use of air conditioning.
Internet
All the work and research developed within the Foundation will be available online, according to Ferran Adrià. The Catalan chef thinks that if all the contents are on the Internet, the Foundation will have more pressure to work well and chefs will get external inputs about their work.
Ferran Adrià said it is 'crucial' to receive 'feed-back' from the audience about the task that will be developed by the members of the Foundation. Although gastronomy fans won't be able to book a table to eat in the Foundation, Adrià is exploring the possibilities of inviting people to taste their creations.
Source: Catalan News Agenecy
Ferran Adria, father of molecular gastronomy, whips up ‘idea center’ for world
NO MATTER how many stars there are in the culinary sky, when Ferran Adria is the scheduled speaker, the huge auditorium is filled up.
That’s what happened during the three-day food conference known as Madrid Fusion, Spain’s major culinary show, where chefs and even computer technologists from all over the world gather to hear the latest techniques and show off their creativity. This year, it was held Jan. 25-27.
Adria wasn’t an imposing figure. He wasn’t tall, was balding and was dressed in street clothes instead of his trademark whites. But when he began to talk, the big auditorium was quiet.
Adria began by saying that last year when he announced the closing of elBulli, his revolutionary and successful restaurant in Roses, Spain, none of the journalists asked him what he was going to do next. And so he was announcing at this time that when elBulli closes in June 30 this year, the elBulli Foundation would begin the same day. He was supposed to make the announcement in 2013 but decided to move it ahead.
It wasn’t easy to digest everything chef Adria was explaining. It was bewildering in the sense that here was a genius trying to explain what he wanted to do next, and in a way that to him sounded plain and simple. There was a session just for the press afterwards to take in more questions from the media.
But it wasn’t as enlightening either. My simplistic summary of the presentation is that the Foundation, situated near elBulli, would be a place where chefs can create, discuss and interact with other researchers like journalists, scientists and philosophers.
Digital innovations
First, Adria wanted to show the physical look of the Foundation. For that he called his architect, Eric Ruiz Geli, whom he described as a man who listens to the ideas of clients rather than insists on his own.
When Geli began his presentation by saying how people, places and things were made of molecules arranged in a certain way, I remembered the term which has come to describe Adria’s cooking—molecular gastronomy. It’s a term Adria himself hates, according to his biographer Colman Andrews in the book, “Ferran Adria: The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat” (Phaidon Press, Ltd., London, 2010).
The foundation design will include new materials and digital innovations that would probably make it a showcase of a new architecture that takes into consideration such factors as salinity levels, winds, relative humidity, geothermal and photosynthesis. It also promises to cut carbon emissions.
The initial plans for what Adria called the “idea center” showed several demijohns with walls made probably of a glass-like material and pillars like the neck of that glass container supporting the roof, which looked like a wavy net with peaks and ebbs. This is a place where chefs can create, said Adria. He suggested that chefs needed a place away from the kitchen to create, and the Foundation would provide that space and that quiet time, but at the same time keep the fun going.
Adria promised to uphold the natural preserve of Cala Montejo, the place in the region of elBulli. The seascape and landscape will be integrated into the design.
Apart from the “idea center,” Adria announced there will be an elBulli archive, a data center with digitized files of recipes and experiments done during the 15 years of the restaurant.
ElBulli’s history
In 1987, elBulli decided to close for 6 months; Adria said it was because no one came in the winter. In 1993, a 350-square meter kitchen was built for the 19 to 12 chefs then working, which eventually ballooned to 45 chefs. The expansion left him and his partners nearly broke.
In 1998, the Barcelona workshop was opened even as he confessed he didn’t know what a workshop was. But this was when he understood that creativity and productivity were separate. Restaurateurs were bewildered that he only served dinner most of the time, when opening the whole year and serving both lunch and dinner could have earned him millions of euros.
And then elBulli had no menu which made it difficult for culinary guides like Michelin to appraise the restaurant.
“A menu would have shackled us,” was his explanation.
It was beginning in 2002 when, for a year and a half, he and his team didn’t create anything for elBulli. He went to Japan, fixed up the restaurant in 2007-2008, but in 2009 realized that something was missing. If his chefs wanted to create, this was not the way to go, he thought.
The Foundation was the answer to Adria’s need to have a new stimulus. He and his partners will spend their own money, about 600,000-800,000 euros for this project. “We’re a bit crazy,” said Adria—but also because “so as not to be humdrum.”
Perhaps he knew we were bewildered, and he assured the audience with his parting words. “Trust us,” he said.
After he made elBulli the number one restaurant in the world, influenced countless chefs with his ideas and changed the way many of them cook, that isn’t asking much.
E-mail the author at pinoyfood04@ yahoo.com
Errata
Aldrin Salipande noted how the subhead of the article on Lucban said his hometown is part of Laguna. Nothing in the article, though, said that, and I apologize.
On the Dimas-Alang Bakery story, Robert Javier corrects his father-in-law’s first name as Manolo, not Manalo, and that of Manolo’s wife as Payapa, Paying or Baby to friends. And for the many people who asked for the address of Dimas-Alang Bakery, it’s 52 A. Mabini, St., Kapasigan, Pasig.
NO MATTER how many stars there are in the culinary sky, when Ferran Adria is the scheduled speaker, the huge auditorium is filled up.
That’s what happened during the three-day food conference known as Madrid Fusion, Spain’s major culinary show, where chefs and even computer technologists from all over the world gather to hear the latest techniques and show off their creativity. This year, it was held Jan. 25-27.
Adria wasn’t an imposing figure. He wasn’t tall, was balding and was dressed in street clothes instead of his trademark whites. But when he began to talk, the big auditorium was quiet.
Adria began by saying that last year when he announced the closing of elBulli, his revolutionary and successful restaurant in Roses, Spain, none of the journalists asked him what he was going to do next. And so he was announcing at this time that when elBulli closes in June 30 this year, the elBulli Foundation would begin the same day. He was supposed to make the announcement in 2013 but decided to move it ahead.
It wasn’t easy to digest everything chef Adria was explaining. It was bewildering in the sense that here was a genius trying to explain what he wanted to do next, and in a way that to him sounded plain and simple. There was a session just for the press afterwards to take in more questions from the media.
But it wasn’t as enlightening either. My simplistic summary of the presentation is that the Foundation, situated near elBulli, would be a place where chefs can create, discuss and interact with other researchers like journalists, scientists and philosophers.
Digital innovations
First, Adria wanted to show the physical look of the Foundation. For that he called his architect, Eric Ruiz Geli, whom he described as a man who listens to the ideas of clients rather than insists on his own.
When Geli began his presentation by saying how people, places and things were made of molecules arranged in a certain way, I remembered the term which has come to describe Adria’s cooking—molecular gastronomy. It’s a term Adria himself hates, according to his biographer Colman Andrews in the book, “Ferran Adria: The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat” (Phaidon Press, Ltd., London, 2010).
The foundation design will include new materials and digital innovations that would probably make it a showcase of a new architecture that takes into consideration such factors as salinity levels, winds, relative humidity, geothermal and photosynthesis. It also promises to cut carbon emissions.
The initial plans for what Adria called the “idea center” showed several demijohns with walls made probably of a glass-like material and pillars like the neck of that glass container supporting the roof, which looked like a wavy net with peaks and ebbs. This is a place where chefs can create, said Adria. He suggested that chefs needed a place away from the kitchen to create, and the Foundation would provide that space and that quiet time, but at the same time keep the fun going.
Adria promised to uphold the natural preserve of Cala Montejo, the place in the region of elBulli. The seascape and landscape will be integrated into the design.
Apart from the “idea center,” Adria announced there will be an elBulli archive, a data center with digitized files of recipes and experiments done during the 15 years of the restaurant.
ElBulli’s history
In 1987, elBulli decided to close for 6 months; Adria said it was because no one came in the winter. In 1993, a 350-square meter kitchen was built for the 19 to 12 chefs then working, which eventually ballooned to 45 chefs. The expansion left him and his partners nearly broke.
In 1998, the Barcelona workshop was opened even as he confessed he didn’t know what a workshop was. But this was when he understood that creativity and productivity were separate. Restaurateurs were bewildered that he only served dinner most of the time, when opening the whole year and serving both lunch and dinner could have earned him millions of euros.
And then elBulli had no menu which made it difficult for culinary guides like Michelin to appraise the restaurant.
“A menu would have shackled us,” was his explanation.
It was beginning in 2002 when, for a year and a half, he and his team didn’t create anything for elBulli. He went to Japan, fixed up the restaurant in 2007-2008, but in 2009 realized that something was missing. If his chefs wanted to create, this was not the way to go, he thought.
The Foundation was the answer to Adria’s need to have a new stimulus. He and his partners will spend their own money, about 600,000-800,000 euros for this project. “We’re a bit crazy,” said Adria—but also because “so as not to be humdrum.”
Perhaps he knew we were bewildered, and he assured the audience with his parting words. “Trust us,” he said.
After he made elBulli the number one restaurant in the world, influenced countless chefs with his ideas and changed the way many of them cook, that isn’t asking much.
E-mail the author at pinoyfood04@ yahoo.com
Errata
Aldrin Salipande noted how the subhead of the article on Lucban said his hometown is part of Laguna. Nothing in the article, though, said that, and I apologize.
On the Dimas-Alang Bakery story, Robert Javier corrects his father-in-law’s first name as Manolo, not Manalo, and that of Manolo’s wife as Payapa, Paying or Baby to friends. And for the many people who asked for the address of Dimas-Alang Bakery, it’s 52 A. Mabini, St., Kapasigan, Pasig.
Speculation as to the future of elBulli - a restaurant almost as famous for the difficulty of getting a table as for the quality of the food - has been rife since Ferran Adrià, head chef for over 25 years, announced in 2010 that the venture would close in its present form and re-open as a food 'laboratory' and foundation in 2014.
the two main aims of the foundation are 1)to archive the legacy of the restaurant and 2)to house a centre of creativity which will have wider benefits both socially and gastronomically.
the actual building in which it is to be housed will be technologically and ecologically focussed. Tecnalia will be overseeing the engineering of the structure, which will include energy produced by seaweed, with Telefónica in charge of managing a comprehensive online resource.
The motto of the Foundation is that 'there will be Risk, Freedom and Creativity,'
'Freedom to create.'
The Foundation will not be a school as such, but a place for experimenting. And it will welcome visitors so long as 'this flow does not disrupt the daily work'. About 15 chefs will be employed each season, together with five members of other disciplines, such as design and architecture. It is expected that there will be a daily analysis of what has been created, with progress disseminated to the wider world through the digital archive.
Source: es.phaidon.com
the two main aims of the foundation are 1)to archive the legacy of the restaurant and 2)to house a centre of creativity which will have wider benefits both socially and gastronomically.
the actual building in which it is to be housed will be technologically and ecologically focussed. Tecnalia will be overseeing the engineering of the structure, which will include energy produced by seaweed, with Telefónica in charge of managing a comprehensive online resource.
The motto of the Foundation is that 'there will be Risk, Freedom and Creativity,'
'Freedom to create.'
The Foundation will not be a school as such, but a place for experimenting. And it will welcome visitors so long as 'this flow does not disrupt the daily work'. About 15 chefs will be employed each season, together with five members of other disciplines, such as design and architecture. It is expected that there will be a daily analysis of what has been created, with progress disseminated to the wider world through the digital archive.
Source: es.phaidon.com
4 Feb 2011 - Reviews and ratings of El Bulli, a restaurant in Girona, Spain, from The New York Times.
Frommer's Review
Chef Ferran Adrià is hailed as the most exciting chef in Spain. The press has dubbed him the "Salvador Dalí of the kitchen" because of his creative approach to cookery. Joël Robuchon, hailed as the world's best chef before his retirement in Paris, has announced that Adrià is the best chef in the world (Photo Flicker: Langoustine Air).
Adrià operates his luxe eatery in the little hamlet of Roses, but many of the most discerning palates in Catalonia seek out this restaurant. Michelin grants it three stars, an accolade most often reserved for the top restaurant of Paris. El Bulli, which means "innovative" in Spanish, lives up to its name.
Most guests order a 12-course tasting menu finer than any you'll be served in Barcelona's top restaurants. You never know what's going to appear, but you can expect the most delightful surprises, based on the season's finest produce. One dish alone should give Adrià culinary immortality: his lasagna of calamari.
Travel + Leisure has hailed El Bulli as "the world's most outrageously creative kitchen," and we concur.
Source: NYTimes Travel Magazine
Frommer's Review
Chef Ferran Adrià is hailed as the most exciting chef in Spain. The press has dubbed him the "Salvador Dalí of the kitchen" because of his creative approach to cookery. Joël Robuchon, hailed as the world's best chef before his retirement in Paris, has announced that Adrià is the best chef in the world (Photo Flicker: Langoustine Air).
Adrià operates his luxe eatery in the little hamlet of Roses, but many of the most discerning palates in Catalonia seek out this restaurant. Michelin grants it three stars, an accolade most often reserved for the top restaurant of Paris. El Bulli, which means "innovative" in Spanish, lives up to its name.
Most guests order a 12-course tasting menu finer than any you'll be served in Barcelona's top restaurants. You never know what's going to appear, but you can expect the most delightful surprises, based on the season's finest produce. One dish alone should give Adrià culinary immortality: his lasagna of calamari.
Travel + Leisure has hailed El Bulli as "the world's most outrageously creative kitchen," and we concur.
Source: NYTimes Travel Magazine
The Buildings
There will be an archive building, where visitors can come to see El Bulli's digitally archived history, as well as a state-of-the-art building called the "Ideario," which will be a space for fostering innovative ideas. The actual Ideario is a series of five connected rooms that resemble massive, transparent Hershey's kisses. This creative center is designed to help both those in the gastronomic world but others, like advertising..
The Eco-Neighborhood
The Ideario will function as part of a greater eco-neighborhood (which includes a park, more below) that will be imitating coral life in its design. That's right, coral life. The Ideario will utilize glass photovoltaic cells (for converting solar energy), while the staff will use electric cars to come to work. It will be based out of Cala Montjoi by the El Bulli, which will remain untouched.
The Park
Integral to the eco-neighborhood will be a park (designed by architect Enric Ruiz Geli) aimed to be the most sustainable in the world, and would utilize new technology to ensure zero carbon emissions. Salinity, carbon dioxide, photosynthesis, humidity and geothermal energy will be monitored. The Ideario will absorb hydrogen from the algae in the park.
The elBulliFoundation will kick into gear after elBulli shuts its doors in June 2011. More details will be unveiled in 2012 at the Mistura Gastronomic Fair in Lima, Peru. The eco-neighborhood and park are slated to open in 2014.
There will be an archive building, where visitors can come to see El Bulli's digitally archived history, as well as a state-of-the-art building called the "Ideario," which will be a space for fostering innovative ideas. The actual Ideario is a series of five connected rooms that resemble massive, transparent Hershey's kisses. This creative center is designed to help both those in the gastronomic world but others, like advertising..
The Eco-Neighborhood
The Ideario will function as part of a greater eco-neighborhood (which includes a park, more below) that will be imitating coral life in its design. That's right, coral life. The Ideario will utilize glass photovoltaic cells (for converting solar energy), while the staff will use electric cars to come to work. It will be based out of Cala Montjoi by the El Bulli, which will remain untouched.
The Park
Integral to the eco-neighborhood will be a park (designed by architect Enric Ruiz Geli) aimed to be the most sustainable in the world, and would utilize new technology to ensure zero carbon emissions. Salinity, carbon dioxide, photosynthesis, humidity and geothermal energy will be monitored. The Ideario will absorb hydrogen from the algae in the park.
The elBulliFoundation will kick into gear after elBulli shuts its doors in June 2011. More details will be unveiled in 2012 at the Mistura Gastronomic Fair in Lima, Peru. The eco-neighborhood and park are slated to open in 2014.
Ferran Adria interview: The culinary wizard on life after el Bulli
By Harriet Alexander
Ferran Adria, widely credited as being one of the world's finest chefs, tells Harriet Alexander why the end of el Bulli is only the beginning.
For Ferran Adrià, the Spanish chef who delights in turning things on their head, the end is just the beginning.
Having announced in January last year that he would close el Bulli, his famed restaurant near Barcelona which is widely acclaimed as one of the world's finest, last week in Madrid he was talking about its rebirth.
"Throughout the history of el Bulli, there have been many changes in its organisation or philosophy," he told the Madrid Fusion food festival – the same place where 12 months ago he dropped the bombshell of closing the restaurant in July.
"This is another one of those moments. There will be risk, and freedom, and creativity. But there won't be opening hours, or reservations, or routines."
Mr Adrià took to the stage in Madrid to unveil "el Bulli Foundation" - the latest development from the man described by the New York Times as the chef "who would have been the caterer of choice for the Mad Hatter".
Source: UK Telegraph
By Harriet Alexander
Ferran Adria, widely credited as being one of the world's finest chefs, tells Harriet Alexander why the end of el Bulli is only the beginning.
For Ferran Adrià, the Spanish chef who delights in turning things on their head, the end is just the beginning.
Having announced in January last year that he would close el Bulli, his famed restaurant near Barcelona which is widely acclaimed as one of the world's finest, last week in Madrid he was talking about its rebirth.
"Throughout the history of el Bulli, there have been many changes in its organisation or philosophy," he told the Madrid Fusion food festival – the same place where 12 months ago he dropped the bombshell of closing the restaurant in July.
"This is another one of those moments. There will be risk, and freedom, and creativity. But there won't be opening hours, or reservations, or routines."
Mr Adrià took to the stage in Madrid to unveil "el Bulli Foundation" - the latest development from the man described by the New York Times as the chef "who would have been the caterer of choice for the Mad Hatter".
Source: UK Telegraph
Ferran Adria, father of molecular gastronomy, whips up ‘idea center’ for world
By By Micky Fenix
NO MATTER how many stars there are in the culinary sky, when Ferran Adria is the scheduled speaker, the huge auditorium is filled up.
That’s what happened during the three-day food conference known as Madrid Fusion, Spain’s major culinary show, where chefs and even computer technologists from all over the world gather to hear the latest techniques and show off their creativity. This year, it was held Jan. 25-27.
Adria wasn’t an imposing figure. He wasn’t tall, was balding and was dressed in street clothes instead of his trademark whites. But when he began to talk, the big auditorium was quiet (Photo El País, Adria in Madrid Fusion 2011).
Adria began by saying that last year when he announced the closing of elBulli, his revolutionary and successful restaurant in Roses, Spain, none of the journalists asked him what he was going to do next. And so he was announcing at this time that when elBulli closes in June 30 this year, the elBulli Foundation would begin the same day. He was supposed to make the announcement in 2013 but decided to move it ahead.
It wasn’t easy to digest everything chef Adria was explaining. It was bewildering in the sense that here was a genius trying to explain what he wanted to do next, and in a way that to him sounded plain and simple. There was a session just for the press afterwards to take in more questions from the media.
But it wasn’t as enlightening either. My simplistic summary of the presentation is that the Foundation, situated near elBulli, would be a place where chefs can create, discuss and interact with other researchers like journalists, scientists and philosophers.
Digital innovations
First, Adria wanted to show the physical look of the Foundation. For that he called his architect, Eric Ruiz Geli, whom he described as a man who listens to the ideas of clients rather than insists on his own.
When Geli began his presentation by saying how people, places and things were made of molecules arranged in a certain way, I remembered the term which has come to describe Adria’s cooking—molecular gastronomy. It’s a term Adria himself hates, according to his biographer Colman Andrews in the book, “Ferran Adria: The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat” (Phaidon Press, Ltd., London, 2010).
The foundation design will include new materials and digital innovations that would probably make it a showcase of a new architecture that takes into consideration such factors as salinity levels, winds, relative humidity, geothermal and photosynthesis. It also promises to cut carbon emissions.
The initial plans for what Adria called the “idea center” showed several demijohns with walls made probably of a glass-like material and pillars like the neck of that glass container supporting the roof, which looked like a wavy net with peaks and ebbs. This is a place where chefs can create, said Adria. He suggested that chefs needed a place away from the kitchen to create, and the Foundation would provide that space and that quiet time, but at the same time keep the fun going.
Adria promised to uphold the natural preserve of Cala Montejo, the place in the region of elBulli. The seascape and landscape will be integrated into the design (Photo Ricardo Gutiérrez, Adria 17/Jan/2007).
Apart from the “idea center,” Adria announced there will be an elBulli archive, a data center with digitized files of recipes and experiments done during the 15 years of the restaurant.
ElBulli’s history
In 1987, elBulli decided to close for 6 months; Adria said it was because no one came in the winter. In 1993, a 350-square meter kitchen was built for the 19 to 12 chefs then working, which eventually ballooned to 45 chefs. The expansion left him and his partners nearly broke.
In 1998, the Barcelona workshop was opened even as he confessed he didn’t know what a workshop was. But this was when he understood that creativity and productivity were separate. Restaurateurs were bewildered that he only served dinner most of the time, when opening the whole year and serving both lunch and dinner could have earned him millions of euros.
And then elBulli had no menu which made it difficult for culinary guides like Michelin to appraise the restaurant.
“A menu would have shackled us,” was his explanation.
It was beginning in 2002 when, for a year and a half, he and his team didn’t create anything for elBulli. He went to Japan, fixed up the restaurant in 2007-2008, but in 2009 realized that something was missing. If his chefs wanted to create, this was not the way to go, he thought.
The Foundation was the answer to Adria’s need to have a new stimulus. He and his partners will spend their own money, about 600,000-800,000 euros for this project. “We’re a bit crazy,” said Adria—but also because “so as not to be humdrum.”
Perhaps he knew we were bewildered, and he assured the audience with his parting words. “Trust us,” he said.
After he made elBulli the number one restaurant in the world, influenced countless chefs with his ideas and changed the way many of them cook, that isn’t asking much.
Errata
Aldrin Salipande noted how the subhead of the article on Lucban said his hometown is part of Laguna. Nothing in the article, though, said that, and I apologize.
On the Dimas-Alang Bakery story, Robert Javier corrects his father-in-law’s first name as Manolo, not Manalo, and that of Manolo’s wife as Payapa, Paying or Baby to friends. And for the many people who asked for the address of Dimas-Alang Bakery, it’s 52 A. Mabini, St., Kapasigan, Pasig.
E-mail the author at pinoyfood04@ yahoo.com - Source: Daily Inquirer
By By Micky Fenix
NO MATTER how many stars there are in the culinary sky, when Ferran Adria is the scheduled speaker, the huge auditorium is filled up.
That’s what happened during the three-day food conference known as Madrid Fusion, Spain’s major culinary show, where chefs and even computer technologists from all over the world gather to hear the latest techniques and show off their creativity. This year, it was held Jan. 25-27.
Adria wasn’t an imposing figure. He wasn’t tall, was balding and was dressed in street clothes instead of his trademark whites. But when he began to talk, the big auditorium was quiet (Photo El País, Adria in Madrid Fusion 2011).
Adria began by saying that last year when he announced the closing of elBulli, his revolutionary and successful restaurant in Roses, Spain, none of the journalists asked him what he was going to do next. And so he was announcing at this time that when elBulli closes in June 30 this year, the elBulli Foundation would begin the same day. He was supposed to make the announcement in 2013 but decided to move it ahead.
It wasn’t easy to digest everything chef Adria was explaining. It was bewildering in the sense that here was a genius trying to explain what he wanted to do next, and in a way that to him sounded plain and simple. There was a session just for the press afterwards to take in more questions from the media.
But it wasn’t as enlightening either. My simplistic summary of the presentation is that the Foundation, situated near elBulli, would be a place where chefs can create, discuss and interact with other researchers like journalists, scientists and philosophers.
Digital innovations
First, Adria wanted to show the physical look of the Foundation. For that he called his architect, Eric Ruiz Geli, whom he described as a man who listens to the ideas of clients rather than insists on his own.
When Geli began his presentation by saying how people, places and things were made of molecules arranged in a certain way, I remembered the term which has come to describe Adria’s cooking—molecular gastronomy. It’s a term Adria himself hates, according to his biographer Colman Andrews in the book, “Ferran Adria: The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat” (Phaidon Press, Ltd., London, 2010).
The foundation design will include new materials and digital innovations that would probably make it a showcase of a new architecture that takes into consideration such factors as salinity levels, winds, relative humidity, geothermal and photosynthesis. It also promises to cut carbon emissions.
The initial plans for what Adria called the “idea center” showed several demijohns with walls made probably of a glass-like material and pillars like the neck of that glass container supporting the roof, which looked like a wavy net with peaks and ebbs. This is a place where chefs can create, said Adria. He suggested that chefs needed a place away from the kitchen to create, and the Foundation would provide that space and that quiet time, but at the same time keep the fun going.
Adria promised to uphold the natural preserve of Cala Montejo, the place in the region of elBulli. The seascape and landscape will be integrated into the design (Photo Ricardo Gutiérrez, Adria 17/Jan/2007).Apart from the “idea center,” Adria announced there will be an elBulli archive, a data center with digitized files of recipes and experiments done during the 15 years of the restaurant.
ElBulli’s history
In 1987, elBulli decided to close for 6 months; Adria said it was because no one came in the winter. In 1993, a 350-square meter kitchen was built for the 19 to 12 chefs then working, which eventually ballooned to 45 chefs. The expansion left him and his partners nearly broke.
In 1998, the Barcelona workshop was opened even as he confessed he didn’t know what a workshop was. But this was when he understood that creativity and productivity were separate. Restaurateurs were bewildered that he only served dinner most of the time, when opening the whole year and serving both lunch and dinner could have earned him millions of euros.
And then elBulli had no menu which made it difficult for culinary guides like Michelin to appraise the restaurant.
“A menu would have shackled us,” was his explanation.
It was beginning in 2002 when, for a year and a half, he and his team didn’t create anything for elBulli. He went to Japan, fixed up the restaurant in 2007-2008, but in 2009 realized that something was missing. If his chefs wanted to create, this was not the way to go, he thought.
The Foundation was the answer to Adria’s need to have a new stimulus. He and his partners will spend their own money, about 600,000-800,000 euros for this project. “We’re a bit crazy,” said Adria—but also because “so as not to be humdrum.”
Perhaps he knew we were bewildered, and he assured the audience with his parting words. “Trust us,” he said.
After he made elBulli the number one restaurant in the world, influenced countless chefs with his ideas and changed the way many of them cook, that isn’t asking much.
Errata
Aldrin Salipande noted how the subhead of the article on Lucban said his hometown is part of Laguna. Nothing in the article, though, said that, and I apologize.
On the Dimas-Alang Bakery story, Robert Javier corrects his father-in-law’s first name as Manolo, not Manalo, and that of Manolo’s wife as Payapa, Paying or Baby to friends. And for the many people who asked for the address of Dimas-Alang Bakery, it’s 52 A. Mabini, St., Kapasigan, Pasig.
E-mail the author at pinoyfood04@ yahoo.com - Source: Daily Inquirer
HBS Cases: Customer Feedback Not on elBulli's Menu
Published:November 18, 2009
Author: Julia Hanna
He's been called "the Salvador Dalí of the kitchen" for creations ranging from beetroot and yogurt ice-cream lollipops to a deconstructed Spanish omelet served in a parfait glass. Each year, some 2 million hopeful diners vie to be one of the fifty customers he serves each evening for the six months that elBulli, his restaurant, is open. The world is beating a path to Chef Ferran Adrià's door, but why?
"Creativity comes first; then comes the customer," he has said. So what can HBS students learn about marketing from a business owner who says he doesn't care whether or not customers like his product?
HBS assistant professor Michael Norton's interest in what motivates seemingly irrational consumer behavior has found a perfect subject in Adrià. To eat at elBulli, customers must navigate a mysterious reservations system. If they are lucky enough to be one of the 8,000 who get a booking that year, they are then given a date and time to show up. Reaching elBulli's coastal perch involves traveling to Barcelona, then negotiating two hours of narrow, twisting mountain roads. But then they enjoy a five-hour meal of thirty-some completely original, whimsical dishes prepared by Adrià and his team of thirty to forty cooks. The meal costs roughly 230 euros and represents hours of laborious research, testing, and preparation. In addition to engaging a diner's five senses, Adrià and his team hope to evoke irony, humor, and even childhood memories with their creations. "We have turned eating into an experience that supersedes eating," he has said.
"If the product is merely food, Adrià should move the restaurant to Barcelona or Madrid," says Norton, who has written a case on elBulli with Julián Villanueva and Luc Wathieu. "Another view is that the product is the whole experience, from start to finish—so driving for two hours in the mountains is a crucial aspect of the product."
The case also highlights the distinction between understanding and listening to customers. "Adrià's idea is that if you listen to customers, what they tell you they want will be based on something they already know," Norton observes. "If I like a good steak, you can serve that to me, and I'll enjoy it. But it will never be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. To create those experiences, you almost can't listen to the customer."
Norton asks students to consider the operations and marketing of elBulli. There is much about the restaurant that is inefficient, as MBAs are quick to note: Adrià should lower his staff numbers, use cheaper ingredients, improve his supply chain, and increase the restaurant's hours of operation. But "fixing" elBulli turns it into just another restaurant, says Norton: "The things that make it inefficient are part of what makes it so valuable to people."
Adrià's other business ventures include publishing elBulli-related catalogs, consulting to large food manufacturers, and the launch of an elBulli hotel and a chain of reasonably priced restaurants called Fast Good. But what is the balance between leveraging the Adrià/elBulli brand and breaking its core meaning? In a classroom discussion of first-year Marketing students, Norton says opinion was divided. Some felt sure that Adrià should be doing more to cash in on his name; others said he would destroy what he has worked so hard to build.
In December, students had the opportunity to hear from the man himself when Adrià visited Norton's Marketing class, where his comments made it clear that for this particular business owner, creativity and innovation trump any traditional decisions about pricing and operations.
"I should charge 600 euros [for a meal at elBulli]," Adrià has said, "but I do not cook for millionaires. I cook for sensitive people."
Because Adrià doesn't adhere to business norms, the elBulli case shows just how broad the spectrum for marketing a "product" can be—and that's not a bad thing for MBAs to learn. "Marketing is a science, but it's also an art," Norton remarks.
"Adrià says he doesn't listen to customers, yet his customers are some of the most satisfied in the world. That's an interesting riddle to consider."
Julia Hanna is associate editor of HBS Alumni Bulletin.
"Creativity comes first; then comes the customer," he has said. So what can HBS students learn about marketing from a business owner who says he doesn't care whether or not customers like his product?
HBS assistant professor Michael Norton's interest in what motivates seemingly irrational consumer behavior has found a perfect subject in Adrià. To eat at elBulli, customers must navigate a mysterious reservations system. If they are lucky enough to be one of the 8,000 who get a booking that year, they are then given a date and time to show up. Reaching elBulli's coastal perch involves traveling to Barcelona, then negotiating two hours of narrow, twisting mountain roads. But then they enjoy a five-hour meal of thirty-some completely original, whimsical dishes prepared by Adrià and his team of thirty to forty cooks. The meal costs roughly 230 euros and represents hours of laborious research, testing, and preparation. In addition to engaging a diner's five senses, Adrià and his team hope to evoke irony, humor, and even childhood memories with their creations. "We have turned eating into an experience that supersedes eating," he has said.
"If the product is merely food, Adrià should move the restaurant to Barcelona or Madrid," says Norton, who has written a case on elBulli with Julián Villanueva and Luc Wathieu. "Another view is that the product is the whole experience, from start to finish—so driving for two hours in the mountains is a crucial aspect of the product."The case also highlights the distinction between understanding and listening to customers. "Adrià's idea is that if you listen to customers, what they tell you they want will be based on something they already know," Norton observes. "If I like a good steak, you can serve that to me, and I'll enjoy it. But it will never be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. To create those experiences, you almost can't listen to the customer."
Norton asks students to consider the operations and marketing of elBulli. There is much about the restaurant that is inefficient, as MBAs are quick to note: Adrià should lower his staff numbers, use cheaper ingredients, improve his supply chain, and increase the restaurant's hours of operation. But "fixing" elBulli turns it into just another restaurant, says Norton: "The things that make it inefficient are part of what makes it so valuable to people."
Adrià's other business ventures include publishing elBulli-related catalogs, consulting to large food manufacturers, and the launch of an elBulli hotel and a chain of reasonably priced restaurants called Fast Good. But what is the balance between leveraging the Adrià/elBulli brand and breaking its core meaning? In a classroom discussion of first-year Marketing students, Norton says opinion was divided. Some felt sure that Adrià should be doing more to cash in on his name; others said he would destroy what he has worked so hard to build.
In December, students had the opportunity to hear from the man himself when Adrià visited Norton's Marketing class, where his comments made it clear that for this particular business owner, creativity and innovation trump any traditional decisions about pricing and operations.
"I should charge 600 euros [for a meal at elBulli]," Adrià has said, "but I do not cook for millionaires. I cook for sensitive people."
Because Adrià doesn't adhere to business norms, the elBulli case shows just how broad the spectrum for marketing a "product" can be—and that's not a bad thing for MBAs to learn. "Marketing is a science, but it's also an art," Norton remarks.
"Adrià says he doesn't listen to customers, yet his customers are some of the most satisfied in the world. That's an interesting riddle to consider."
Julia Hanna is associate editor of HBS Alumni Bulletin.
"Ferran stands head and shoulders above any other chef cooking in the world today...truly in a class of his own" --Gordon Ramsay
A Day at elBulli: An Insight into the Ideas, Methods and Creativity of Ferran Adria reveals for the first time the creative process, innovative philosophy and extraordinary techniques of the multi-award-winning restaurant, elBulli, and its legendary head chef, Ferran Adria.
Situated on a remote beach on the northeast coast of Spain, elBulli is famous for being the ultimate pilgrimage site for foodies, and a reservation that is nearly impossible to obtain. Each year elBulli is open for just six months, and receives more than 2 million requests for only 8,000 seats.
Renowned for his spectacular ever-changing 30-course tasting menu, Adria's pioneering culinary techniques have been applauded - and imitated - by top chefs around the globe for the past decade, and he was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of our time.
This event took place on October 13, 2008
A Day at elBulli: An Insight into the Ideas, Methods and Creativity of Ferran Adria reveals for the first time the creative process, innovative philosophy and extraordinary techniques of the multi-award-winning restaurant, elBulli, and its legendary head chef, Ferran Adria.
Situated on a remote beach on the northeast coast of Spain, elBulli is famous for being the ultimate pilgrimage site for foodies, and a reservation that is nearly impossible to obtain. Each year elBulli is open for just six months, and receives more than 2 million requests for only 8,000 seats.
Renowned for his spectacular ever-changing 30-course tasting menu, Adria's pioneering culinary techniques have been applauded - and imitated - by top chefs around the globe for the past decade, and he was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of our time.
This event took place on October 13, 2008