Reinventing Food

‘by far the best [book] yet written about Adria - Andrews is a discerning and greedy guide to elBulli’s flavours - Now, elBulli is evolving again. Adria has announced that it will close at the end of 2011. Foodies worldwide are in mourning. For millions of us who never came close to getting a reservation, Andrew’s insightful portrait may be our best hope of understanding what all the fuss was about.’ Bee Wilson, The Sunday Times, Culture supplement, 19 September 2010 ‘What is universally undisputed […] is the fact that Adria, through his catalogue of elBulli creations and standing as the driving force behind the ultimate destination restaurant, has changed the way we eat and think about food, spawning a host of imitators around the world. In Reinventing Food: Ferran Adria […] Colman Andrews […] gives a unique insight into Adria’s exceptional life story - how a young Catalan with no boyhood interest in food ended up taking over the kitchen of elBulli in 1987 at the age of 25 and evolved to change the gastronomic world forever. The takes the reader through Adria’s humble beginnings as a cook during military service […] through to international recognition as the man behind the world’s best restaurant … a lively and fascinating read.’ Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 24 September 2010 ‘the more intriguing story, which Andrews tells very well, is how what started in the 1960s as a hippy beach cafe on an all but unreachable cove became first a restaurant, then a gastronomic restaurant cleaving to the trend for nouvelle cuisine, and then something else entirely, the flag-waver for a vanguard. Hand in hand with this is the story of Adria himself: an ordinary bloke who had been cooking for years before he really committed to it; who as a young man was more interested in football and chasing girls than creating a single morsel of food anybody would remember. - we do get insights into the autodidact’s approach to creativity - millions [ - ] year after year, have attempted but failed to get to bag a reservation [at El Bulli]. - For them, this book is as close as they are every likely to get to enjoying El Bulli for themselves.’ Jay Rayner, The Observer, The New Review, 10 October 2010 ‘[a] fascinating story’ Country & Town House, November 2010 ‘insightful and well written’ Bee Wilson, TLS (Times Literary Supplement), 13 May 2011

Colman Andrews is an award-winning food writer, restaurant reviewer and gastronomic commentator based in the USA. His previous books include Catalan Cuisine and Flavours of the Riviera. He co-founded Saveur magazine and acted as editor-in-chief for four years, and went on to be a contributing editor for Gourmet magazine. He has known Ferran Adria for many years.

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