Sunday, December 10, 2006

The three wise men

There was an interesting article in this weekend Observer. Heston Blumenthal of Fat Duck fame, Ferran Adria of the renowned El Bulli restaurant and the esteemed Thomas Keller of Per Se (New York) and the French Laundry (Napa Valley) have banded together and created a kind of manifesto, a statement of intent that sets our a worldwide agenda for fabulous cooking.
Apparently they are not changing the way they cook at all, they are just asking us to see beyond the mad scientist technical wizardry and realise it’s all about the food. Heston in particular is not fond of the term ‘molecular gastronomy’ and feels that he and his fellow heavily Michelin starred laden purveyors of ‘future food’ are misunderstood.
They want us to ignore the vacuum pumps, the liquid nitrogen and the centrifugal forces and concentrate on the quality ingredients and the delicious and stimulating dishes they produce. So really no change at all then.
I am still very keen to visit all of the three wise men’s restaurants but I suspect that we will soon be issued with simple instructions on how to eat in their hallowed establishments and enjoy the experience, as clearly we’re just not clever enough to get it! Surely there’s some dessicated, vacuum cooked, liquid nitrogen fozen irony here and isn't there a danger that they'll alienate some of their loyal customers and just disappear up their own blow torches? Hmmm!

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