Chef Ferran Adria’s Film El Bulli Cooking in Progress Is Off and Running at SxSW

It may seem unfair, but it’s the film buffs at a primiere at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and then at the South by Southwest Film and Multimedia Conference (or SxSW) in Austin, Texas, who got the first in-depth look at an inspiring new film about Ferran Adria and his amazing culinary creations. Entitled El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, the movie delighted viewers so much it was the first film to be snatched up for American distribution at the Festival.  Fantastic!

Purchased by Kino Lorber for his new company Alive Mind Cinema, this captivating movie about culinary creativity will be the first film shown by the new firm at New York’s Film Forum on July 27, 2011.  The rest of us will be able to see the film during a later 2011 fall distribution.

Filmed by the noted German documentary film visionary Gereon Wetzel, the movie follows the creativity of famed Spanish chef Ferran Adria as he and his staff design through intent and discovery a unique and daring menu for the next seasonal offerings at El Bulli.

Working at his Barcelona “laboratory”, Ferran and his staff are shown creating many of the 30 plus dishes they will later share with the famed restaurant’s long-waiting guests. Every “experiment” involves structure, sound, color, texture and, of course, taste. Ferran is shown always as on hand – tasting, adjusting, directing, true to the tradition of a master chef.

Yet discovery is always part of the creative experience. When one young chef drops an ice cube into a nearby plate of gravy, the thought occurs to everyone why not create a new entrée from ice cubes?

Suddenly, the thought is moving creatively among this talented gathering of chefs. Why not go further? Why not mix oil with water and create a cocktail that leaves an elegant smooth coating on the lips?

Every discovery (both positive AND negative) is carefully written in notebooks that line the walls or on a wall board for further research and expansion. Photographed in high definition and without the burden of a non-culinary narrative to clutter the viewing experience for the insightful professional, this is an amazing film that explores, not merely food, but the entire creative experience, free and far reaching.  

Truly a “must-see” film.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Ferran Adria: The Best Is Yet To Come

Colman Andrews has written an insightful biography, that only he could have written, about the meteoritic career of Ferran Adria in Ferran: The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food. 

If you’ve had your ear tuned to the culinary network, you’re sure to have heard of foam and deconstruction as terms for all that’s new in the world of cuisine.

And though few would deny the creativity of this legendary chef, Andrews goes deeper in a tour de force that traces the little known stories in Ferran’s life that have led to his greatest achievements and frustrations.

Unlike a James Beard, Ferran did not discover meaningful cuisine in his mother’s kitchen or like a Julia Child in a great culinary school. Instead, he began in an entrance level job that his father arranged for him through a family friend when he dropped out of school.  Ferran learned enough at that kitchen job and others to be able to work as a cook in the home of a Spanish admiral when drafted.

Once discharged from the military, Ferran went looking for another kitchen job – hopefully one that didn’t require too much work so that, like any young man, he could party and drink (ideally with friends and a lovely lady or two).

Then fate intervened.  A friend mentioned a small restaurant located above a beach called El Bulli (named for the original German owners’ bulldogs).  If the story were a Hollywood script, the next chapters would be all about fame and fortune – how Ferran became tagged with the title “the world’s great chef”.

But Andrews, who spent months interviewing Ferran, listening in his kitchen and observing in his working culinary studio - El Tallers, goes further.  He documents how Ferran first discovered new techniques re-thinking traditional kitchen tools and then adopting stabilizers and thickeners long known to pastry chefs into stunning new applications within main courses.

Colman charts the raising awareness of Ferran’s innovative creations among culinary professionals – both positively and negatively.  He examines the price of fame even when it isn’t wanted.

The book ends with a question – what will Ferran do next?  Ferran has announced that in 2011 he will take a two year hiatus from his now world famous restaurant.  Will he travel, teach, discover more that is new?  Return to tradition?

One can only hope that whatever path Ferran chooses to follow, Andrews will be there to write volume number two about this amazing chef’s creativity and courage in kitchen.  Bravo and well done!  

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2010