In the meantime, his Costa Brava restaurant El Bulli has become the Mecca of modern gourmets. If you want to eat there, though, you need to reserve ahead – a year in advance ought to do. El Bulli is only open between Mai and October anyway; Adrià and his team spend the rest of the year doing research and developing new dishes.
The press has hailed you as an "alchemist," a "magician" and as "the Dalí of cooking." Which of these labels do you like best and why?
I am a cook. Of course everyone has their own opinion, and logically enough, they all use the phrases they like best. The phrase I like best is “cook.”
When and how did you discover your passion for cooking?
It was a total coincidence. I was in college and needed money for the summer, so I looked for a job and found something as a dishwasher in a restaurant. That's how my career began. I was introduced to the classical art of cooking, and before I started at El Bulli, I worked at a wide variety of restaurants.
Time Magazine dubbed you one of the "100 world’s most influential people." Can your cooking really have an international influence on something or someone?
Not according to my wife. Well, perhaps haute cuisine has a certain impact on the way we eat, and the way we eat is very important in society – maybe that is what they mean. So it is if they were trying to say that Ferran Adrià is having a lasting influence on the way people eat in general.
Photo: "Sopa de letras" by Francesc GuillametMolecular gastronomy is described as a link between science and cooking – as an attempt to expand the limits of the art of cooking by implementing scientific techniques ...
…no, no, I don't believe that. There really is a problem with the way molecular gastronomy is described. It is a dialogue between cooking and science, but there is no such thing as molecular cooking. That is a big mistake – people always use this term to talk about the new way to cook. But molecular gastronomy is not a way of cooking, it is an element of cooking.
What is so appealing about this dialogue?
It's quite natural – science brings new insights to all different kinds of areas, enriches topics over and over again. After all, science is part of life. The science of communication is the same thing: it is not the basis of this interview but in some form it contributes to it taking place.
In your workshop, cooking is like scientific tinkering. Who is on your team of employees – are they all cooks?
No, my workshop has all sorts of employees – from historians to industrial designers and architects all the way to other types of scientists.
You do the unthinkable when it comes to combining foods and ingredients. Which criteria do you use to make choices?
My own criteria. I simply cook the things I like to eat myself. Guests at my restaurant like this maximum quality the way I like it too.
Do you eat only haute cuisine or do you also like traditional, hearty home cooking as well?
I simply like good food, no matter whether it is traditional or haute cuisine.
