MADRID (AFP) — It looked, sounded and felt like a high-tech conference for Apple's latest product, but instead of Steve Jobs it was Ferran Adria on stage, the Michelin-starred guru of Spanish avant-garde cuisine.
Jobs' signature turtleneck was replaced by Adria's scientific-looking white smock, his uniform in the Catalan kitchen laboratory that has won him acclaim as one of the best chefs in the western world.
And like Silicon Valley presentations, Adria paced back and forth on the stage, hands gesticulating, mini-microphone to his mouth, as pictures were projected on a vast screen behind him on stage.
The "show" was at Madrid Fusion 2008, the annual international culinary conference focussing on the cutting-edge in haute cuisine, which ran for the sixth year in the Spanish capital this week.
Adria, who was awarded three Michelin stars for his El Bulli restaurant near Barcelona, also named the world's best restaurant in 2006 and 2007 by Britain's Restaurant Magazine, showed as one of the guest speakers he is still going strong.
The ambassador of "molecular gastronomy" -- who invented such fare as liquid ravioli and his signature "foam" sauces -- offered a dozen new ideas to an audience of many "starred" chefs and international food specialists.
His blackberry risotto recipe began by plunging the berries into liquid nitrogen. A parmesan pancake was brought to crisp perfection in a microwave -- a tool otherwise banned by great chefs -- before Adria explained the secret of constructing a chocolate bonzai tree, with icy water.
Noted for technical perfection, he showed reconstructed strawberries that looked like the real thing but were shaped with ice cream made with strawberry juice and agar-agar, a natural gelling agent.
The 45-year-old master chef ran through each recipe quickly, with a mini-film as back-up, eliciting "ahs" and applause from the audience.
To his critics, and there were a few in the crowd, who accuse him of practicing chemistry and complex artistry rather than cooking, he cried out, "Freedom, freedom, freedom...Let's not argue. Cooking is a pleasure!"
"Everytime you see him, it's like getting smacked in the face," said Parisian pastry chef Sebastien Gaudard. "He has such a different perspective on cuisine; he is generous, curious and takes inspiration from everywhere."
Another big name in Spanish cooking, Basque chef Karlos Arguinano whose cooking show has run on public television for 15 years, was no less effusive.
"In 200 years, no one will talk about us, but Ferran Adria, yes," he said, after himself receiving mention at Madrid Fusion along with six other well known chefs including Frenchman Joel Robuchon.
"He is one of those people who becomes a legend. Ferran Adria revolutionised the world of cooking and today everyone listens to him, in awe," said the show's organiser and founder, Esmeralda Capel.
When Adria himself is asked what he thinks about Ferran Adria, he looks down and puffs up his cheeks. "I don't know, you have to ask others."
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