There is nothing better than anniversaries to take stock. Sit down to celebrate and take the opportunity to take a look at what was sown and what was harvested, reflect and discuss to continue the path started or change course. That is precisely what the great chefs gathered yesterday in the capital of San Sebastián tried to do on the 25th anniversary of San Sebastián Gastronomika. Ferran Adrià and René Redzepi were some of those who reviewed their careers to imagine, together as a sector, the future of gastronomy.
Some of the chefs who took the stage yesterday, such as Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro, Josean Alija, Rodrigo de la Calle or the aforementioned Redzepi, took advantage of the occasion to review their careers. They are part of the generation that revolutionized gastronomy, with the epicenter in El Bulli and Ferran Adrià, who turned everything upside down and for which they were awarded the Tribute award yesterday. "This is a tribute not to a person, but to a generation," said the chef, who also remembered the character who accompanied him from the beginning at Cala Montjoi, Juli Soler.
The first day, full of surprises, recognition and emotion, featured a four-handed presentation by Joan Roca and Quique Dacosta. Both three Michelin stars for their restaurants in Girona and Denia, respectively, tried to expose the benefits of one of the main products of their kitchens and which now stars in the book they have just published. "With the permission of those in Palamós, I would say that Denia's is the best," Dacosta joked. And together with the chef of El Celler de Can Roca they put an end to the "eternal bite" by highlighting the value of this product and the different ways of preparing it in both houses. They both closed their speech by giving a freshly cooked red prawn to their friend Ferran Adrià.
The Danish René Redzepi, who some time ago announced the closure of his Noma restaurant at the end of next year, took the opportunity to reflect on its evolution and warned: "We are not going to close, we are building a new Noma. Now I know that to continue Being who you are, you have to change. After being introduced with emotion by Andoni Luis Aduriz, the chef explained how he went from being a teenager "without aspirations" to creating a successful project that he now intends to transform. It was a dessert of roasted pineapple with saffron that he made for his kitchen colleagues that marked a before and after for him, because he understood that he was trusted. "Trust is a profound and powerful change," he sent as a message to learners, but above all to teachers.
"We wanted to experience longevity," Redzepi added, referring to Noma, but "if you plan too much, the plan itself will tell you not to." The need for change was what prompted him to close his restaurant (five times the best in the world according to The World's 50 Best Restaurants) to convert it in 2025 into a center dedicated to research. The decision evokes the one adopted by Ferran Adrià in 2011 to close El Bulli to reopen it years later under a new concept of a creativity laboratory. This year, the Cala Montjoi restaurant has also become a museum.
The creator of El Bulli had a prominent role yesterday when he received this edition's Tribute award and the recognition of his colleagues, many of whom passed through the kitchen of his restaurant. "When I see a 'Bullinian' succeed, like José Andrés or Andoni Aduriz, it is everyone's triumph," said Adrià upon receiving the award. Likewise, the chef encouraged young chefs to follow their own path because "they have to be better than us."
Josean Alija (Nerua), who opened the day, analyzed the influence that congresses have had on his career as a chef, and Rodrigo de la Calle (El Invernadero) highlighted the role of research in cooking, like what he does in the search for new techniques to continue "enhancing the flavor of vegetables."
Then it was the turn of chefs Oriol Castro and Eduard “We are three chef friends with our feet on the ground, who rely on a great team,” said Castro modestly, to start with the retrospective of the learning and techniques (which they showed on video or with live preparations) that they now transfer to their plates. Inverse spherifications, solid bubbles and many other formulas that join those now explored with the aim of surprising the diner.
Paco Morales also wanted to throw out some of the questions he asks himself at his restaurant Noor, where he assures that he does not go for the dish, but for the whole. "We are very interested in the diner's experience and that is not just the food," he indicated. Something similar was pointed out by Artur Martínez (Aürt), who considered interaction with the customer as the main ingredient of his cuisine, and who also announced yesterday that he will move the "radical cuisine" of his restaurant to a new location before 2025.
The reflection continues today with the presentations of Elena Arzak, José Andrés or Ángel León, in addition to those of the Italian Viviana Varese or the Japanese Yoshihiro Narisaw, with a strong look at the territory and the local product, without forgetting that analysis of the past that It has to lead us to imagine what the future of gastronomy will be.
