Here's world-famous Spanish chef Ferran Adrià dropping some serious knowledge as part of his "Deconstructing the Chef" lecture at the Museum of Science in Boston last month. Adrià speaks about his favorite topics — food and science — and where they intersect. He points out that those lines frequently blur: "We have difficulty understanding what is cuisine, and we have difficulties understanding what is science." As he's said before, Adrià maintains there's a profound confusion when it comes to terminology: "If we search on the internet and search the word 'cook,' [it's defined as] to prepare by the use of heat. That tells us, by that definition, that sashimi is not cuisine."
He notes that while science and its relationship to food is often complex, it can also help simplify things. Using classification as a prime example, Adrià notes that where avocado an avocado is a fruit in Peru and a vegetable in Europe, the scientific definition of an avocado remains the same across borders. On the other hand, scientifically speaking, there are more than 3,000 varieties of citrus fruits, which Adrià says would take "several lives" to learn. Go, watch:
Video: Deconstructing the Chef: Ferran Adrià
· Deconstructing the Chef: Ferran Adrià [YouTube]
· All Ferran Adrià Coverage on Eater [-E-]
—Khushbu Shah