TDG:The Last Article You Will Read On Ferran Adria

[docsconz]

(And I thought the article was a fine social commentary, and I would say that you didn't have to visit the restaurant to discuss Adria's cooking in this manner.  You never provide an opinion on the quality of what he's doing -- i.e., whether it's good.  You only discuss what he's doing, and there doesn't seem to be any disagreement about that.)

Is Adria worthwhile simply because he is original? Of him being original there can be little doubt based upon descriptions alone. I think the pertinent question is whether he should be canonized for this alone? I don't think mere originality is sufficient. The real issue is whether his originality is transcendental - a unique and truly valuable contribution to the art of gastronomy. While most of what I have read about him and his restaurant would lead me to believe that his contributions go well beyond mere originality, that most of his "edible art" is in fact a culinary experience unique in flavor, texture and context specific to a particular time, I can not really express a legitimate opinion until I have experienced it for myself. I do, however, agree that the concepts are fascinating and exciting.

[docsconz]

I squeezed a few drops of an article on Adria into my eye instead of reading it.

[Stone]

(And I thought the article was a fine social commentary, and I would say that you didn't have to visit the restaurant to discuss Adria's cooking in this manner.  You never provide an opinion on the quality of what he's doing -- i.e., whether it's good.  You only discuss what he's doing, and there doesn't seem to be any disagreement about that.)

Is Adria worthwhile simply because he is original? Of him being original there can be little doubt based upon descriptions alone. I think the pertinent question is whether he should be canonized for this alone?

It depends. This article was not cannonizing him for his cooking. The article was about "originality". And in the annals of originals, one can certainly be cannonized for originality alone.

On the other hand, Doc, you seem to be focussing on whether to laud Adria as a chef. In that circumstance, I would agree that originality alone is not sufficient (or perhaps even necessary). Look at the recent thread on Oceana. (I couldn't find it.) I would also agree that the author of such an article should probably have eaten his food. But again, that's not what this article was about.

[inventolux]

I squeezed a few drops of an article on Adria into my eye instead of reading it.

thats funny

[inventolux]

Adria's The foam guy, he's been the foam guy for a while.

But to categorize him as the foam guy when he's the leader of a culinary revolution is hardly accurate. Anybody who is hovering at that level of comprehension -- e.g., the average casual foodie -- needs to do a lot more reading.

The last thing you will see at El Bulli this year is a foam.

[tan319]

I thought this article was hilarious!

And sums up the guy pretty well, ironically or not.

The NYtimes mag article , I've read this thing over and over, much like I've watched the Trio segment from 'Into the Fire' again and again. Catching these kind of creators in action, visually or reading about them is a revelation. The 4 almonds segment cracks me up. The logging, dating the recipes, it all makes sense to me.

Had to add my 2 cents.

Thanks!

[mags]

he also thinks he has something to add. And I agree.

I'm afraid I don't. Mere originality is not sufficient to make art, in cooking or in anything else. I could make a cake out of canned chocolate frosting and cat-kibble, but while it might be original, it wouldn't offer much to my audience, the eaters. Without that connection to and with the audience, all I'm doing is pissing around. And without having experienced Adria's food, Timothy has no idea of whether it does, in fact, make a connection with its audience. He's simply recycling someone else's opinion, and canonizing Adria as an artist on the basis of it. I don't see anything different between his doing that and my writing an article about, say, the earth-shaking genius of Jackson Pollack without ever having seen one of his paintings, based entirely on other people's reviews.

[Fat Guy]

Adria's place in the culinary world isn't in question. He's at the top of the heap. The choice is between acknowledging that and being wrong. Saying you have to eat Adria's food to know that he's the top guy is like saying you have to travel into space to know the Earth is round, and I'm not sure what the question is regarding connecting with his audience: especially given his remote locale, if he wasn't connecting with his audience in a sustained manner over a period of years, how would we even know about him?

There's a place for restaurant reviews discussing actual meals at El Bulli. We have of course published an exhaustive one. But Tim is writing about Adria as a phenomenon, not as a chef-restaurateur. To reiterate, it is social criticism not a restaurant review. It's not, "Should I eat there? What does the food taste like? How's the service? What are the hours of operation?" Rather, the argument touches on points more along the lines of:

Ferran Adria is single-handedly changing the way we look at the chef. Whereas the greatest chefs of today can now sometimes portray their handy way with a crepe into a starring role on the Food Network, Adria's out to make them into something more: capital A Artists. He meticulously documents his food, as a poet would his scribblings. He keeps a notebook. He speaks fondly of "periods" in his work, much like a painter who inevitably sleeps his way through a series of muses. In this day and age, we need our art to speak to us -- if not shout – to get over the din of mediocrity. Adria is a megaphone clad in a smock and clogs.

No doubt, dining at El Bulli makes one more qualified to speak about Adria's food, assuming one has an open mind. The alternative is to experience Adria through written recipes, photographs, occasional guest chef appearances, and of course his many disciples and influences -- none of that is direct experience of El Bulli. And certainly, where Tim does briefly make some assumptions about Adria's food, he is taking a calculated risk -- he could be wrong, and only the secondary sources tell him he's right (though it so happens that all the credible sources support the position). But dining at El Bulli is not related in the slightest to one's ability to comment on Adria as a social phenomenon.

[pedro]

Adria's place in the culinary world isn't in question. He's at the top of the heap. The choice is between acknowledging that and being wrong. Saying you have to eat Adria's food to know that he's the top guy is like saying you have to travel into space to know the Earth is round, and I'm not sure what the question is regarding connecting with his audience: especially given his remote locale, if he wasn't connecting with his audience in a sustained manner over a period of years, how would we even know about him?

There's a place for restaurant reviews discussing actual meals at El Bulli. We have of course published an exhaustive one. But Tim is writing about Adria as a phenomenon, not as a chef-restaurateur. To reiterate, it is social criticism not a restaurant review. It's not, "Should I eat there? What does the food taste like? How's the service? What are the hours of operation?" Rather, the argument touches on points more along the lines of:

Ferran Adria is single-handedly changing the way we look at the chef. Whereas the greatest chefs of today can now sometimes portray their handy way with a crepe into a starring role on the Food Network, Adria's out to make them into something more: capital A Artists. He meticulously documents his food, as a poet would his scribblings. He keeps a notebook. He speaks fondly of "periods" in his work, much like a painter who inevitably sleeps his way through a series of muses. In this day and age, we need our art to speak to us -- if not shout – to get over the din of mediocrity. Adria is a megaphone clad in a smock and clogs.

No doubt, dining at El Bulli makes one more qualified to speak about Adria's food, assuming one has an open mind. The alternative is to experience Adria through written recipes, photographs, occasional guest chef appearances, and of course his many disciples and influences -- none of that is direct experience of El Bulli. And certainly, where Tim does briefly make some assumptions about Adria's food, he is taking a calculated risk -- he could be wrong, and only the secondary sources tell him he's right (though it so happens that all the credible sources support the position). But dining at El Bulli is not related in the slightest to one's ability to comment on Adria as a social phenomenon.

Perhaps a little late, but here I go. To write an article about a chef or restaurant without having tasted his cooking, whether we label it as restaurant review, chef review, or social criticism, to me just makes little sense. Following your analogies, is like saying in first person that Michael Jordan is the best player ever not having seen a second of his games, or commenting about Picasso without having seen a single paint from him. Possible?, yes. Makes sense?, little, IMHO. Here in Spain, a common argument among soccer players, coaches and the alikes when a journalist criticizes them, is to disqualify them saying "they've never played...". Ok, we all agree that we don't have to play as Zidane to comment about Real Madrid, but it seems a reasonable minimun at least have seen a single game!.

By the way, I ate at El Bulli in 2000, when it was possible to get a table without selling your mother.

Did I enjoy it?. Every second, man!.

[Fat Guy]

To write an article about a chef or restaurant without having tasted his cooking, whether we label it as restaurant review, chef review, or social criticism, to me just makes little sense.

That statement simply does not reflect the way journalism works. Reviews and other first-hand reports are categorically different from commentary and editorials. Do you think it makes no sense to write about the war in Iraq if you haven't been to Iraq? That's just silly. What you can't do is write a front-line eyewitness report about the horrors of war. But everything else is fair game based on the secondary sources. Look at the quote above that I pulled from Tim's story. Show me one word of it that requires first-hand exposure to Adria's food. In terms of the analogies to painters and basketball players, the point here is that Adria is more than a chef-restaurateur. Assume Michael Jordan all of a sudden became the President Of All Sports In The World and every professional athlete of any repute reported to Michael Jordan for guidance. At that point, a story about Michael Jordan would not require any sort of direct encounter with his basketball talents, because he has become more than a player -- the focus of the story can be about how he is single-handedly changing sports around the world. If an author at that point says, "Michael Jordan is today redefining what it means to be an athlete," then of course the response, "But you've never seen him play" totally misses the point.

[pedro]

Show me one word of it that requires first-hand exposure to Adria's food.

IMHO:

"Some people celebrate God. Ferran celebrates flavor."

"Though I've never had the fortune to eat there, I can say with an absolute certainty that nothing he does is trickery."

[Fat Guy]

Pedro you must know that those quotes aren't from the passage I was talking about, and I think we can all agree that where Tim does talk directly about Adria's food he'd have more standing to do so had he visited the restaurant. But the contention that one can't write about Adria without dining at El Bulli remains patently absurd.

[Ruth]

Tim knows this is a media-saturated subject, but he also thinks he has something to add. And I agree.

He may not have been to El Bulli but Tim's article reveals and expresses an understanding of Adria's food that many critics appear to miss. I particularly liked his comparison with California cuisine (flavor as opposed to ingredients). I did eat there, three years ago and Adria told me he was rarely using foams any more but concentrating on temperature and textural contrasts. Now he appears to be aiming at more concentrated flavors by dehydration.

I enjoyed the article very much. It was carefully worded and written with a sense of humor. It hit the nail on the head

[pedro]

Pedro you must know that those quotes aren't from the passage I was talking about, and I think we can all agree that where Tim does talk directly about Adria's food he'd have more standing to do so had he visited the restaurant. But the contention that one can't write about Adria without dining at El Bulli remains patently absurd.

Steven, I don't want to enter in an endless discussion about this. Yes, one can write about Adria without dining at El Bulli. The article proves that. What I question is, since is not based on first hand experience, more weight should have been given to this when he talks about his cooking, i.e. "according to the sources consulted, Adria's food ". Sincerely, I was shocked after reading almost the whole article, that in one of the last paragraphs the author states that he has not tasted Adria's creations. Why not to state that in the firs place?.

Regards,

Pedro

[Fat Guy]

Because disclaimers should be limited to what's important, otherwise every article will read like the Saturday Night Live ad for the Happy Fun Ball.

[inventolux]

Tim knows this is a media-saturated subject, but he also thinks he has something to add. And I agree.

He may not have been to El Bulli but Tim's article reveals and expresses an understanding of Adria's food that many critics appear to miss. I particularly liked his comparison with California cuisine (flavor as opposed to ingredients). I did eat there, three years ago and Adria told me he was rarely using foams any more but concentrating on temperature and textural contrasts. Now he appears to be aiming at more concentrated flavors by dehydration.

I enjoyed the article very much. It was carefully worded and written with a sense of humor. It hit the nail on the head

Even though I agree with many of his views, I believe his efforts were more for audience pleasure rather than his actual opinion.

Edited August 24, 2003 by inventolux (log)

[timothycdavis]

Even though I agree with many of his views, I believe his efforts were more for audience pleasure rather than his actual opinion.

How on earth can you say this? I believe I would be the only one qualified to comment on whether or not it was "for an audience" or my opinion. Do you know how much I've gotten paid for anything eGullet has printed? Zero. I do it *solely* because they're my opinions. Otherwise, why bother?

TCD

[Fat Guy]

Unless the audience refuses (with or without good reason) to take pleasure in a given set of opinions, audience pleasure and expression of opinions are entirely compatible goals.

[Matthew Grant]

The last thing you will see at El Bulli this year is a foam.

Really? I nearly floated home I was full of so much of it!

[Cathar]

I read all these posts on Adria and El Bulli and my basic feeling is, this is all pretty silly, the output of people without too much else to do of late. Couldn't you guys at least start watching the US Open or something?

Having read a few articles on Adria, too, it just sounds to me as if eating at his restaurant is more of a "chic ordeal," at bandit-like prices, than a true dining experience to be savored, With or without foam. (And if I really wanted foam in my mouth, anyway, I'd go back to shaving with a razor.) Nary a one of his dishes ever sounds remotely tasty. We're not talking pizza, say, or lamb chops.

Also, and this one is probably more of a sociological observation, but once the NYT magazine writes about you, it's all over. To be on the same pages as that dolt known as "the ethicist" (who wouldn't know a real moral issue if a Waffen-SS division ran over him on its way to Stalingrad) or that stupendously dopey "What were they thinking?" feature, that says nothing good, Nothing salient. And nothing serious. So you've got some pretentious Spanish chef creating what sounds like only vaguely edible food at ridiculously steep prices. This is worth all the ranting and raving? I'd actually rather see a Sean Penn movie (which for me is saying a lot).

[L.A.ChefGuy]

After reading the book, all I could think of (besides the fact that I STILL have alot to learn) was that this book could be considered the ultimate Jello cookbook.

There are no stupid questions...just stupid people asking them

[tan319]

Does anyone know if people gave Escoffier this much crap about aspic?

[MatthewB]

Does anyone know if people gave Escoffier this much crap about aspic?

They didn't. But only because the Internet didn't exist then.

(Now someone's going to post & ask tan319 to defend his comparision of Adria to Escoffier. This is gonna be fun!

[vserna]

Just my two late Eurocents: I got more out of Tim's article than out of the New York Times Magazine's much-celebrated, but ponderous, belated, repetitive piece.

By the way - I have been fortunate to eat Ferran Adrià's food a number of times. I still liked Tim's ironic column. Why not?

[tan319]

Does anyone know if people gave Escoffier this much crap about aspic?

They didn't. But only because the Internet didn't exist then.

(Now someone's going to post & ask tan319 to defend his comparision of Adria to Escoffier. This is gonna be fun!

Bring it on, Mutha's!