Adrià Down Under

Spain’s world-renowned chef Ferran Adrià will give a presentation in Australia this weekend before attending the two international Slow Food events Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto, taking place next week in Turin, Italy. On route to Melbourne, he highlighted the relevance and importance of local food systems and natural and indigenous ingredients for haute cuisine as well as daily food.

Adrià’s famed elBulli restaurant, north of Barcelona, has been named the world’s best restaurant for the forth year in a row. While a world master of ‘haute cuisine’, Adrià is a strong supporter of the general move towards local, seasonal, simple foods and the Slow Food movement’s principles.

‘The difference between haute cuisine and more natural and simple foods has always been vast. But the two approaches can coexist,’ Adrià stated. ‘I am a very close friend of Carlo Petrini, who founded the Slow Food movement. We have much in common’.

With his approaching visit to Australia, Adrià said that the nation’s great culinary strengths are its young, vibrant approach to cooking, and the availability of indigenous ingredients and flavors, many of which the Australian public is not yet familiar with, but still have important roles to play in haute cuisine.

‘Experiencing food is not just about assessing how good it tastes. Food is a language all of its own. It has meaning, and should play an important role in all of our lives. And when I hear how much interest my visit to Australia is generating, I find it incredible,’ said Adrià.

Adrià is one of the four European culinary stars leading the Cuisine sans frontière dinner, to be held during the Salone del Gusto on Saturday October 25, to raise funds for student scholarships for the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy. The chefs from Germany, Italy, France and Spain will each prepare a dish based upon their region’s gastronomic traditions.

Adrià will also give a Taste Workshop during the event, to speak about his way of designing and planning food, later joining 800 chefs, producers, academics and youth delegates from around the world at Terra Madre 2008, the world meeting of food communities, held concurrently with the Salone this year.

Ferran Adria appears in Mebourne’s Hamer Hall this Sunday, October 18, to discuss his work and his new book, A Day at elBulli, Phaidon.

Source:
The Daily Telegraph

More Information:
www.salonedelgusto.com
www.terramadre.org

Bess Mucke
[email protected]