04-02-2019
Ferran Adrià at Madrid Fusión
The expectation was huge for Ferran Adrià’s speech at Madrid Fusión. The great Catalan chef was back on the stage of the Spanish congress after 8 years; the last time, in 2011, he announced that elBulli would close for good a few months later, on the 30th of July. It was to become something different as we have told you previously. However, people already knew that in Madrid, last week, he was to explain another project. On November 29th last year we wrote:
But the attention of Adrià is focused on elBulli 1846 [the number of dishes he created in his restaurant, as well the year Georges Auguste Escoffier was born], the revolutionary project in the location of the elBulli, 6000 square metres dedicated to creativity. «I will only make one presentation, at Madrid Fusión in January». All right, but what is it going to be like? «Something much more important than elBulli itself». Let’s try to explain it to our readers... «It’s not easy. It won’t be a university, nor a business. I’d say it will be a sort of private centre run by the elBullifoundation [the safe storing Adrià’s ideas, funded by Lavazza with Telefonica, CaixaBankand Grifols, the latter represented in Milan by general manager Lluís Garcia] and will become a global centre where innovation experts will be able to research, study, and experiment on creativity and efficiency». They will analyse the methods of innovation rather than innovation itself, so as to determine models that can be exported to other fields. «This though in fact there’s no such thing as one model. We don’t know a thing about the creative process». Excuse me? «I told you, it’s hard to explain. Put it this way, it seems a locura. You’ll see».
Ferran Adrià on November 28th last year during his visit to Identità Golose Milano with Paolo Marchi and Claudio Ceroni
Ferran structured his speech following the different sections of elbullifoundation.com. The website of the elBullifoundation is already much richer than just a few months ago and will grow further early in May. So here we are:
So how will they select the people who are to work side by side with Ferran Adrià and his staff? Through a global call for submissions open to everyone. At Madrid Fusión we had a glimpse of the sections on elbullifoundation.com that are not yet open. They hide the profiles of the positions open at ElBulli 1846, which will undergo three different selections, one for each branch of research on which Adrià intends to invest.
Not just kitchen professionals, «we need cooks, philosophers, journalists, scientists... And "agitators", that is to say people who question what is known, offering stimuli for creative freedom. At first, we’ll hire 15-20 people maximum. No more: beyond that number, the leader of a group dedicated to innovation will lose control of the team itself. Ideally, we would have no more than 12 people... How will I choose? By now, we’ve developed a good eye. At elBulli it was easy: Aduriz sent me his best, Bottura sent me his best, and so on. What are we going to do? Everything. Every possible thing. As long as it’s legal. We won’t communicate much: it will be a long seller, it wouldn’t be enough just to write a quick report and that’s it. The topic: basic investigation on innovation, so that we can set the conceptual foundations».
The second call (1st September - 20th December 2020) will focus on the study, compiling and structuring of the data for a library of 100 books that aim to explain cooking in every aspect. This project will include chefs, philosophers, and historians, among others.
The third call, in 2021, will be for professionals who will discuss, clarify and reveal the secrets hidden in human perception. What is taste? How can we intervene and change the way we understand the perception of flavours, aromas and texture?
Good luck, if you apply. In the meantime, Adrià is enthusiastic: «I feel as though I was back in 1990, when they told us that what we wanted to do was impossible». The show is starting, he announced before leaving the stage.
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
Reviews, recommendations and trends from the four corners of the planet, signed by all the authors of Identità Golose
by
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief