Food and Drink
Sections
Highlight
Sections
Highlight
G. Elejabeitia / M. Lorenci
MADRID.
Friday, 31 January 2025, 18:57
Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España, now in its 23rd year, marked the 30th anniversary of Spain's unexpected and brilliant gastronomic revolution - one that "amazed the world," as the event's motto states. This prestigious culinary summit gathered many of the key figures behind the movement, celebrating the culmination of a transformation that reshaped global haute cuisine.
Often referred to as a "revolution without a name", as José Carlos Capel, founder of Madrid Fusión, described it, this movement defied labels like molecular cuisine, new Spanish cuisine, conceptual cuisine, or new nouvelle cuisine, which never truly gained popularity.
In a country without a deep-rooted tradition of haute cuisine, "it was a revolution without a storming of the Bastille," said Benjamín Lana, president of Vocento Gastronomía and moderator of the discussion with Capel.
"There won't be another revolution in the short term, but the future is promising thanks to emerging talent," Capel added, reflecting on a movement that took off in 1992 - decades before Madrid Fusión came into existence - and helped propel Spain to the top of the global culinary stage.
Ferran Adrià led that culinary revolution from the helm of El Bulli, his iconic restaurant in the remote Mont Roig cove, now a museum. It was the epicentre of the transformation and the driving force behind a revolution that some compare to the one led by the French Georges Auguste Escoffier a century earlier, or the one experienced in the second half of the 20th century with the French 'nouvelle cuisine,' spearheaded by culinary geniuses like Paul Bocuse and Michel Bras.
The Restaurant Magazine was the international launchpad for this phenomenon, naming El Bulli the world's best restaurant in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, and second place in 2003, 2005, and 2010. The New York Times contributed to the phenomenon by dedicating the cover of its Sunday edition in 2003 to Adrià's restaurant, with the article "The New Nouvelle Cuisine" subtitled "How Spain Became the New France."
Other key hubs of this movement were in the Basque Country, with chefs like Juan Mari Arzak and Pedro Subijana championing the new Basque cuisine. In Girona, the Roca family and their legendary Celler de Can Roca reached the top spot in The Restaurant Magazine rankings in 2023 and 2015, and second place in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018.
The ripple effect spread across Spain, filling it with brilliant chefs at the helm of Michelin-starred restaurants and leading guides, such as Ángel León, Pepe Solla, Dabiz Muñoz, and countless others. The heirs to this revolution are now restaurants like Barcelona's Disfrutar, which won the title of best restaurant in the world at last year's edition.
In total, nearly thirty chefs, all wearing the Madrid Fusion T shirt, and journalists took to the stage at the Palacio de Cibeles in Madrid -just a fraction of the key figures behind that regime change. Ferran and Albert Adrià, Joan Roca, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Quique Dacosta, Carme Ruscalleda, Dani García, Massimo Bottura, Gastón Acurio, Yoshihiro Narisawa, and Heston Blumenthal all shared their perspectives on a unique era whose impact is still felt today.
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para registrados.
Reporta un error en esta noticia
Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados
¿Ya eres registrado?
Inicia sesiónNecesitas ser suscriptor para poder votar.