Transitioning from kitchen life was his first big challenge. Over four years, they staged hackathons, hosted conferences and developed a big part of what is now the digital side of Bullipedia. There were clashes. A week can go by with no progress; being creative in this world takes time. Every decision — right up to closing the restaurant — was made together and their dream was a shared one. But losing Juli was a very, very difficult moment. Compounding the loss of Soler was the unrelenting squabble over the old El Bulli restaurant space.
El Bulli had always been in close proximity to Cap De Creus Natural Park and is so synonymous with the region that a new species of native scorpion was named after the restaurant Roncus elbulli. With the fame and tourism they have brought to the town of Roses, and to Catalonia more broadly, they assumed their project would be welcomed with open arms. For two years, between and , the battle raged.
Around 71, people signed petitions against the new space, insisting that the damage it would bring was not worth the boost in tourist trade. But those defeats and difficulties did little to dampen his spirits.
With every passing year, he kept his head down and persevered and now he speaks with the Zen of someone who knows that things will eventually work out for him. What does it entail, then? To prove this, he led me to the giant screen at the back of the lab and pulled up a map of the universe. There were planets, of course, and stars, moons, galaxies, asteroids, black holes, satellites.
Each category is broken down further and further as you follow the map downwards: the types of planet and moon and star, what links them together or separates them from one another. This was Sapiens in action, he said: questions about the universe answered, linked and made effortlessly understandable.
It was more than a bit confusing, but for a second I could have sworn it made sense. Among this core squad was a philosopher, a psychologist, a geopolitical intelligence expert and an architect, all corralled into the task of testing, refining and simplifying the Sapiens methodology. Their workday ran from 11am to 8pm, having the run of the renovated restaurant to themselves. Leisure time was unrestricted, meals were cooked in the old El Bulli kitchens and walks on the beach were encouraged.
Everything is clicking into place. The visitor experience will be unique. I was asked to do the same before our interview. Should visitors feel snackish, there will be refreshments, but they will be El Bulli refreshments.
Without all of this, we would be dead. Very sad news is announced in October communicating that Juli Soler is suffering from a neurodegenerative disease.
This represents a most delicate moment during the transformation process of elBulli, delivering a blow for his family, the elBulli team, and the gastronomy sector as a whole, in which he is a reference. From this moment, and without the inestimable help of Juli, Ferran tackles assessment , consulting and image projects alone.
At the same time, elBullifoundation launches projects on knowledge and innovation. The legacy of Juli, whose spirit encompasses all the actions of elBullifoundation, is maintained through the incorporation of his children, Rita and Panxo, as pillars of the Foundation. In , a key decision was taken as to how the business model should be, making a conceptual change based on the following premise: keeping elBullirestaurante at the cutting-edge.
To give us the necessary freedom to do this, a business model for elBullirestaurante was created, based on consultancy and image work, and the formation of our own business lines. A ground-breaking new line of beer that, for its elegance and ability to accompany the great variety of flavours existing in modern gastronomy, offers an alternative to wine. Language: English Spanish. They do not have any children. From on… — Heart Ibiza. Awarded by: International Academy of Gastronomy. Awarded by: The Restaurant Magazine.
As President of the Advisory Board of the Alicia Foundation , created in , Ferran leads an innovative project researching food and health, using cuisine as a language. Awarded by: Raymond Loewy Foundation. The work is composed by the French musician Bruno Mantovani and comprises 35 movements through which the composer illustrates the texture of each of the 35 dishes in the tasting menu. He is the author of more than 30 books see annex. Photographs: Francesc Guillamet.
Woman, 70 platos nuevos y ligeros para el verano. Photographs: Maribel Ruiz de Erenchun. He is middle-aged, middle height, of middling hair-density, with a slight paunch.
If it were not for the fact that he dresses in black from top to toe, like his waiters, he would be the bloke at the bar, mistakeable for a million others, in Anywhere Spain. He has preserved, to his immense credit, something of that everyday Spanishness at El Bulli, for all its cutting-edge sophistication.
I have a friend who went there once with his wife and nine-month-old baby. But in material terms, he insists he is a regular guy: 'I am not a multimillionaire. I don't own a yacht or a Ferrari. I live in a square- metre flat. My needs are simple. In fact, I bet my day-to-day costs are lower than yours. El Bulli itself may not make money, but the brand has spawned plenty of other things that do. He charges many thousands for each lecture he gives. He has a collection of kitchenwear, a joint venture with Armand Basi.
He has his own brand of plates and cutlery including a spoon with small holes in it so you can eat your cereal without drinking the milk. One could go on but he is, in short, the David Beckham of the food business. Though, like Beckham, he is the first to say that he couldn't have done it without the lads. Half the time that we talk, at least, he speaks in the third person plural, by which he means not the royal 'we' but the galactico team around him. It's a team of five including his genius younger brother, Albert, El Bulli's indispensable man.
He stays cool, he keeps me in check. He is vital for me. Both of them quite brilliant. We have the best team in the world and the reason I can say this, in all confidence, is that it is measurable. Tell me what new ideas there have been in the world in the last decade and then look at what we have come up with here.
He does not even sound boastful. During the couple of hours we spend together he conveys relentless enthusiasm, tripping over his words continually as he speaks, his thoughts rushing out faster than his mouth can process them.
He is perspicacious and funny, serious and self-deprecating. But he does not underestimate his importance. He has a quality you find in the truly great, whether their field be food, sport, art or politics. They know, beyond vanity, that they are the best. Whether you like what we do or not, and some might think it's crap, the fact is that this is El Bulli; this is what we do, and where we have been pioneers. Also, bringing the idea to haute cuisine of ice creams that are not sweet, but salty - instead of vanilla, cheese.
Also, I especially enjoyed the creation of warm gelatine. We developed this with the help of scientists, because to make gelatine that is warm seemed impossible at first. When I go to Brazil and I see a young chef who has been inspired by us, who has copied what we do and seeks to build on that, developing his own ideas For me to go to a restaurant and eat something that is not only good, but totally new, is a double thrill.
Double the enjoyment. Eater: Since El Bulli closed its doors in , you have not attended any food festivals and nobody really knows what the El Bulli Foundation is. Could you briefly explain it? Not many people have been really interested in visiting the El Bulli Foundation headquarters in Barcelona. Do you know why?
Because people are not really interested in knowledge itself, people are not interested in the research process. People just want to get the final result, and we are getting closer to it. When El Bulli was open something similar also happened: Our colleagues were just interested in the recipes and not so much in the innovation process that lead us to those recipes and techniques.
We are more interested in the innovation process than in the result itself, and that is what we have been researching for the last few years. Since you first announced El Bulli restaurant would become the El Bulli Foundation, many things have changed.
You were supposed to reopen the Foundation in the original El Bulli restaurant space in , but instead you are still in Barcelona. There are several milestones that have been crucial for us in order to get where we are now. One: the exhibitions. Since , we have organized six exhibitions in Spain, the United States, Latin America, and other countries. In organizing all of them, we have been able to learn something different, and our project has been reinvented on many occasions thanks to these experiences.
It also helped us to organize ourselves and our resources and learn how to explain them to people. The exhibits opened a new world to us of innovation and creativity.
Our life after the exhibitions is no longer just about cooking, but about the innovation process. In preparing them, we realized what we already had but were not able to clearly explain before. Two: our challenges. We have issued challenges to external companies in order to help us clarify what our goals are with the El Bulli Foundation.
For example, the experience of Ideas for Transformation [an international contest held for MBA students to generate ideas for the future viability of the El Bulli Foundation] with five of the most acclaimed business schools in the world [including Harvard, Columbia, and London Business School] was amazingly enriching. Three: Collaborating with big companies such as Telefonica and CaixaBank has been an essential part of transforming our main focus away from cuisine, restaurants, recipes, and ingredients and toward the innovation process in the hospitality sector.
Four: Throughout all these years, we have come to understand who we are and what we have done.
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