The Brazilian Madrid Fusión

[AlexForbes]

I thought the Spanish readers of this forum would find it curious to know that a Brazilian food magazine called Prazeres da Mesa is hosting a huge food forum which will take place in São Paulo

from Nov. 4 to 7.

Its format is very much "inspired" by Madrid Fusion and all the top Spanish chefs will be there: Ferran, Arzak, Pedro Subijana, Joan Roca, Quique daCosta, Bersategui, Andoni, etc.

For those of you who can understand Portuguese, you can read more here.

And the even't official site is here.

The lineup is certainly as strong as Madrid Fusion's - should be very interesting!

[Le Peche]

poxa, parece muito legal.. queria estar no brasil agora. voce vai escrever no seu blog sobre o evento?

[AlexForbes]

The Mesa Tendências event lasted three days, was a huge success and ended yesterday. All the greats were here in São Paulo: Ferran Adrià, Juan Mari Arzak, Martin Berasategui, Joan Roca, Dani García, Josean Alija, Andoni Aduriz, etc. The format was very similar to the that of Madrid Fusion's. Chef seminars in a large auditorium, food, drink and kitchen product stands in an exhibition outside, tasting dinners each night, featuring different chefs.

Ferran, Arzak, Roca and all the others kept saying they were totally wowed by what they saw in Brazil. The richness of ingredients. The warmth and energy of the Brazilian people. Our passion for food.

To find out all that happened, to see photos and videos and much more, just click here

There is a full account of the Spanish chefs tasting several ingredients from the Amazon at D.O.M., Brazil's most important restaurant specialized in technoemotional cuisine, with a video, here

And a summary of Ferran Adrià's seminar, which closed the Mesa Tendências event, here

The reports have lots of photos of the events and the chefs, but the text is all written in Portuguese...

Edited November 8, 2008 by AlexForbes (log)

[vserna]

technoemotional cuisine

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Omigod. Ridiculous culinary newspeak has made it out of Spain. The end of the world is nigh.

[AlexForbes]

Vserna, this surely isn't the first time that you respond with clear hostility to others' posts, although I am not sure why... It just so happens that there is NOTHING ridiculous about the term technoemotional. It sure sounds better and makes more sense than molecular gastronomy or many of the other terms that have been thrown around here and there.

I could go on an on defending this point, but someone I met recently, the Spanish food writer Pau Arenós, has done an excellent job defining this new movement, and so, with his permission, I will quote an excerpt from a text that will be included in a book that is currently in production:

"The technoemotionals, the technoemotion, the techno emotion. The technoemotional cuisine - what is it, after all? by Pau Arenós

Culinary technology has been around since the first bonfire - and even earlier, when knives first came around. But it was at the end of the 20th century that the technicist madness began. Rotaval, Gastrovac, Roner, encapsulator, liofilizator, viscosimeter, chromatographer, instruments to work with liquid nitrogen. The machines and their accompanying techniques. But none of that means anything without... emotion.

There is a misunderstanding that must be cleared up: that which is authentically revolutionary isn't the machine, but the emotion. That which is truly new and representative of the 21st century is sensibility. Publicists, sociologists, storytellers and self-help book authors know it. The tools are only there to serve the emotion. What matters is to feel, laugh, cry, shudder while experimenting a dish.

Who are the technoemotionals? All the chefs who dream up dishes with their emotions, and have no issue with using whatever technique or technology necessary to bring those dishes to life. They’re young chefs and veterans alike, innovators and disciples, discoverers and also those who make use of the discoveries. Knowledge is shared within this network. Why turn one’s back to investigation if with it we manage to aerate mind and body?

Heading this movement is, of course, Ferran Adrià, pusher, godfather, mirror. And at the top of the pyramid, whose base is rapidly widening, Albert Adria, Joan and Jordi Roca, Carme Ruscalleda, Juan Mari and Elena Arzak, Pedro Subijana, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Quique Dacosta, Dani Garcia, Jose Andres, Heston Blumenthal, Alex Atala, Thierry Marx, Jacques Decoret, Grant Achatz, Wylie Dufresne, Carlo Cracco, Massimiliano Alajmo, Massimo Botura, Paolo Lopriore, Seiji Yamamoto... A worldwide clan.

The idea is to translate emotion into food, and beyond that, to use, to achieve that, technique and technology. To feel a tickling climbing up one’s back, and then, like the touch of a hand, a gentle stroking of the hair. Sea foam. Nothing simpler. Nothing more complex. Nothing more beautiful. The recipe? Sea, siphon, sensibility.

But.... what word do we use?

If we add up what was said above, it’s possible to formulate an equation, that falls between math and linguistics:

Technology/technique + emotion/emotional = technoemotion/technoemotional

This neologism isn’t a mere whim, but rather, it describes exactly at which point of the 21st century we’re at."

[vserna]

Yes, it's logical that Pau Arenòs would defend the word . He invented it!

Feel free to like it. But do let others, with a different sensitivity to language and taste, be appalled by it and say so.

It's called free speech.

[AlexForbes]

vserna, don't you worry, as a journalist, I have ALWAYS been in favour of free speech. I just found the tone of your comment a bit aggressive.

So I'd like to say in response to your first comment, "Ridiculous culinary newspeak has made it out of Spain", that it went global long before this "Madrid Fusion of Brazil". In fact, I've been using it in my articles for quite a while.

Secondly, if you find it so ridiculous, what do you propose instead?

Edited November 10, 2008 by AlexForbes (log)

[vserna]

It's not so much what word I would use: it's that I wouldn't use this clumsy philological construction. An example:

"So, you want to go for Chinese, or for pizza instead?"

"Nah, tonight I feel like some technoemotional stuff."

That's the kind of dialogue that'll never happen. Regular people don't take to that kind of neologisms.

It's just so pompous and cumbersome that it makes me cringe. Sorry about that.

One of my Catalan colleagues proposes, since the idea is to go beyond the now-old nouvelle cuisine, to simply call it 'neococina' or 'neocuisine'. I don't know - but at least it's shorter and sounds better. Heck, even 'molecular' is simpler.

Verbiose complications should be shunned - in literature as well as in cookery. Or so I've always believed.

OTOH, Arenòs' whole concept and most of his decalogue also seem flawed to me, for one basic reason: all of the great culinary movements in the West (and, I'm sure, in Asia as well) during the past 100 years have been both technical and emotional, from Escoffier to Fernand Point to Troisgros, Chapel and the whole 'nouvelle cuisine' gang. So the technique/emotion combination doesn't really set the Adrià school apart from others. It's not as simple as that.

And I also believe that Arenòs' tenets are usually applicable to 'nouvelle' as well as to the current Adrià-inspired trends.

[docsconz]

It's not so much what word I would use: it's that I wouldn't use this clumsy philological construction. An example:

"So, you want to go for Chinese, or for pizza instead?"

"Nah, tonight I feel like some technoemotional stuff."

That's the kind of dialogue that'll never happen. Regular people don't take to that kind of neologisms.

It's just so pompous and cumbersome that it makes me cringe. Sorry about that.

One of my Catalan colleagues proposes, since the idea is to go beyond the now-old nouvelle cuisine, to simply call it 'neococina' or 'neocuisine'. I don't know - but at least it's shorter and sounds better. Heck, even 'molecular' is simpler.

Verbiose complications should be shunned - in literature as well as in cookery. Or so I've always believed.

OTOH, Arenòs' whole concept and most of his decalogue also seem flawed to me, for one basic reason: all of the great culinary movements in the West (and, I'm sure, in Asia as well) during the past 100 years have been both technical and emotional, from Escoffier to Fernand Point to Troisgros, Chapel and the whole 'nouvelle cuisine' gang. So the technique/emotion combination doesn't really set the Adrià school apart from others. It's not as simple as that.

And I also believe that Arenòs' tenets are usually applicable to 'nouvelle' as well as to the current Adrià-inspired trends.

←

Victor, the term is a bit cumbersome, but I still have yet to see a better or more accurate one for what it describes. You are correct that Arenós has rightly identified what he considers "technoemotional" cuisine to be a direct descendant of Nouvelle, which in itself is a descendant of classic French cooking. You are also correct that both of those schools utilized technology and emotion. The difference, however, is the conscious desire in this new field to create technology and the techniques derived from it to achieve specific and explicit emotional and intellectual results, more so than has ever been the case with any previous movement in cooking. Previously, the emotions sought consisted of generic elements of pleasure and astonishment. This movement looks to understand what produces specific emotions and to elicit them such as Blumenthal's use of sea sounds in one of his dishes. As for people using the term to decide what to have for dinner on any given night, I doubt that will be much of an issue as very few of these chef's restaurants are of the sort that many people will be able to dine at them on a whim.

As for "neococina," that, like "nouvelle" cuisine is built to be almost immediately outdated, especially this far into the evolution of this style of cooking. I'm not suggesting that this be used, but when referring to the "technoemotional" style of cooking and not wishing to belabor that point to those who may understand, but not particularly care, I generally use the term "contemporary creative" cuisine.

[vserna]

I generally use the term "contemporary creative" cuisine.

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OK with me, John - anything but clumsy contraptions like 'technoemotional'.

It's not even a matter of culinary accuracy any longer. It's a matter of linguistic good taste.

And I do care about language. I've made a living out of it - be it English, French or Spanish! I like it simple and pithy.

[PauloR]

(...), I generally use the term "contemporary creative" cuisine.

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John.

The only question is that in the next 20 years, this cuisine, is no more contemporary. The same for "avantgarde cuisine"

Honestly, Tecnoemocional, reflects what I felt in restaurants such as Alinea, Denis Martin, Can Roca, Mugaritz....

[docsconz]

(...), I generally use the term "contemporary creative" cuisine.

←

John.

The only question is that in the next 20 years, this cuisine, is no more contemporary. The same for "avantgarde cuisine"

Honestly, Tecnoemocional, reflects what I felt in restaurants such as Alinea, Denis Martin, Can Roca, Mugaritz....

←

I agree with you, Paulo, which is why I use "technoemotional" to describe that style of cooking. While Victor is right that it is a little cumbersome, I believe that it is accurate. I use " contemporary creative" when discussing it with people who may not particularly care or really aren't all that involved.

[Le Peche]

sounds really amazing. its a great step forward for brazilian gastronomy to have world attention and exchange of ideas with european chefs like this.

are you going to 'lo mejor de la gastronomia' in san sebastian just in a few weeks?

there is one day that features all portuguese gastronomy from many different avant guarde chefs from the country. one day soon Brazil I am sure.

Edited November 13, 2008 by Le Peche (log)

[piazzola]

Thank you Alexandra for the introduction and yes I am reading your webpage.

looks like a great opportunity to rub shoulders with the top chefs of Spain.

I also like happen to like Brazilian food I was there many times in past years you know. Eu sou gaucho da outro lado de Foz de Iguacu.

[AlexForbes]

Hi,

Le Peche, I would love to go to El Mejor de la Gastronomia, but... I am in Vienna right now and I was in Brazil for 3 weeks, so I guess I should spend some time at home, in Canada!

Hopefully I will be at the Madrid Fusion, we'll see. But you are right, the Mesa Tendencias was a HUGE step forward for Brazilian gastronomy and I am sure the repercussions will be felt and heard years from now. Above all, I think the Spanish chefs will become more curious about Brazilian ingredients and maybe even start using more of them, going beyond the tired banana-passion-fruit-pineaple combo that seems to be on every high-end restaurant's dessert menu. (Oooooooh, aren't we exotic! - these desserts seem to procclaim).

It was also quite touching to see the Spanish greats - Ferran, Arzak, Berasategui, etc - pay homage to Claude Troisgros, who was in the audience, and is Brazil's own representative of the great French clan (his brother Michel runs the family restaurant in France, while Claude has his own, more casual restaurant in Rio, called Olympe). Claude was called to the stage and, feeling quite emotional, he admitted that until a recent trip to Spain he had been very skeptical of this so-called cocina tecnoemocional, but that since eating at El Bulli and co. he'd finally understood what those guys are all about.

Overall, Mesa Tendencias was an incredible event and as a Brazilian I was proud of how well it was organized and how interesting most of the seminars were. It was just as professional as the Madrid Fusion, but warmer, more intimate and more fun. Blame it on the Brazilians...

[AlexForbes]

And now, with much delay, I finally posted an account in English of the closing dinner of the Mesa Tendencias, with Ferran, Arzak and co. in attendance, which is online here.