The Man Who Changed The Way We Eat

Synopsis: Ferran Adrià has done things with food never dreamed of or attempted before. He has created thousands of new dishes, and designed new implements for eating them. His influence over the culinary world is unmatched. His story is entwined with the rise of elBulli: with no formal culinary training, Ferran Adrià took a traditional restaurant perched on a remote Catalan clifftop, and placed it in the centre of the culinary map. Ferran takes a fresh look at the restaurant that has held three Michelin stars for over a decade, and receives over 2 million request for the 8,000 places served each year. The legendary multi-course menus of elBulli are developed by Ferran and his team over months of laboratory experimentation. This unique approach gives elBulli’s food an alchemy all its own; for example, tortilla espanola, or Spanish tortilla, becomes a riot of flavour and texture with potato foam, onion purée and egg-white sabayon, through evolving cooking methods that influence the restaurant menus around the world.

Reinventing Food charts Adrià’s transition from comparative obscurity to becoming the focus of massive media attention – he has been admired, talked about, criticised more than any other chef alive today. Colman Andrews has spent over a decade in conversation with Ferran, as well as countless hours in his restaurant and workshop, and his account recasts Ferran’s remarkable career trajectory on an absorbing, human scale. With unrestricted access to the chef and his family and friends, as well as decades of accumulated insights and interviews with the most prominent chefs and critics, Reinventing Food sheds new light on the most radical culinary innovator of our times. Lively and readable, and full of fresh insights, it will engage not just food-lovers of food, but anyone who enjoys a remarkable story: the story of how one young chef changed the gastronomic world, and reinvented food.

Save 30% when you buy Reinventing Food online at Phaidon.com. To apply this discount simply enter the code HB30RF on the basket during checkout. This offer is valid until 20th December 2010.

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Ferran Adrià is well recognized because of the rise of elBulli and his achievements there. Colman Andrews has created a very intimate account of Ferran Adrià's life, passions and charted how he has made his life choices. There are family photographs, photographs of the restaurant and Ferran with other chefs, but what comes across more than anything is the creativity of Ferran, the desire to create something new and special and how he likes to surprise, for example announcing that in 2011 he plans to close El Bulli for two years and reopen as something else, potentially as a foundation. 'It will be, says Ferran,'a new paradigm'. He calls it a 'think tank' using the phrase in English. 'Until now' he says, El Bulli has been an experience. After 2014 it will be an exploration and a revelation'

This is an absolutely fascinating book, a perfect gift for all food lovers, or anyone looking to be inspired by this very personal story. We loved it! Highly Recommended!