At last, the (first of several, hopefully) promised elBulli essay. There's an awful lot to chew on here, and this thing might get a little bit lengthy. Thus I have decided to post the first ever image on Ars Coquinaria (and Gastronobooks, for that matter) to entice you.
A Day at elBulli
is just over 500 pages of mostly photography detailing a single day, start to finish, at one of the world's most discussed restaurants. There are several inserts that contain most of the text in the book, on subjects such as "Creativity means not copying" and a series on "Creative Methods." It is one of the most complete mass-produced culinary artifacts I have ever seen. In short, it is awesome. (And dense: good lord does this man make my mind-grapes hurt.)
"The guests enjoyment of the food is difficult to quantify because every person has their own views about cooking and the types of foods they enjoy. Creativity, on the other hand, can be measured: it is possible to document a technique and to establish whether it is new."
So let's just jump into the thick of it, shall we? I wish I had more background in art history so I had the vocabulary to accurately discuss this. In any case, I have searched high and low for an interview with Adria I saw two-ish weeks ago that would've complimented this concept beautifully, but to no avail. Oh well. I think it's fascinating that the goal here is to achieve some sort of teleology--or at least to document the steps taken should the chef ever arrive at a certain point. Adria marks his achievements by name and date: "The creation of the frozen savory world in 1994, the new non-pasta raviolis of the same year, or the liquid croquants of 1996." This is so much more reminiscent of the art world than the culinary one to me. I wonder what the destination would be--is there an end-game, a complete desctruction (unravelling?) of cuisine as we know it? Also, the insane emphasis on record-keeping throughout this book makes my heart pitter-patter with food-geek excitement.
"The term ["deconstruction"] has specific meanings in architecture, literary theory and other fiels, of course, but it is not used at elBulli to draw parallels or to imply a sharing of particular theoretical tenets: it is simply the most accurate label."
HAHAHA the place holder I had here when I was pulling quotes just said "Blah, blah, blah," which is my normal reaction whenever anyone says the D-word (deconstruction, Derrida, take your pick). Adria is actually talking about deconstruction here--or perhaps not, but he uses the word with respect for what it actually means and not simply putting all of the ingredients of a dish in separate piles on a plate (I don't know anyone who does that, cough cough). Anyway, I suspect Adria is being careful with his word selection here and that his food is closer to capital-D-Deconstruction than he probably thinks--although I don't really feel as though I can comment on that without having eaten the food (and without rereading Derrida--I'm going on three years out of my last theory course. Eek!).
"There is also a long Spanish tradition of other methods [for cooking seafood], such as deep-frying, grilling and barbecuing."
Doesn't Adria know that barbecuing is not a verb? Calm down, joke.
More Adria later. In the meantime, here's some stuff I've been reading:
