The latest book from veteran food writer Colman Andrews focuses on Michelin Award-winning Spanish chef Ferran Adrià, the man at the helm of one of the most well regarded restaurants in the world, El Bulli. Unless you’re a chef yourself or an avid enthusiast on the subject, you’d be forgiven for not having heard about him. He’s not a household name like say Gordon Ramsay or Heston Blumenthal, yet, he is responsible for some of the most inventive and influential gastronomic creations out there.

Colman Andrews' biography of Adria

As a serial judger of book covers, I knew this was going be good. Nice solid hardback, simple colour scheme, embossed lettering, and confident enough in its own appearance to do away with an outer sleeve. A quick flick through the contents, eyeing up chapters such as ‘A Very Good Boy’ and ‘Molecular Gastronomy and the Foam Guy’, and my attention was hooked.

There’s a lot of information packed in to the 300-odd page biography, which if it wasn’t for the relaxed and, at times, humorous prose, might be tricky to digest. Andrews takes you on a journey covering the chef’s rise from pot wash to head chef of El Bulli; via chapters on his time at military school; the backlash he has received from other culinary figures; key friends and associates who have worked with him along the way; plus a generous dose of interesting anecdotes. You get a sense – as much as you can without physically spending time with him – of what Adrià is about. The thinking – or not in some cases – and trial and error behind his culinary inventions; his passion for spreading the word on Spanish cuisine, and a hint of the quirky traits that you can’t help but warm to him because of: ‘He collects not fine art and rare books but logo pens and pencils from hotels he has stayed in…(he has more than five hundred of them),’ writes Andrews.

It’s fascinating to read about the scientific methods, chemicals and apparatus he uses to transform simple ingredients into extraordinary tastes, textures and dishes, and the unlikely everyday objects and places he finds inspiration in; creations that have attracted much praise and criticism over the years, and resulted in his rather apt labelling as the Salvador Dali of the culinary world.

There are plenty of photographs from Adrià‘s personal albums to break up the plethora of information. I especially loved the surreal, arty images of the weird, wonderful and, in some cases, horrendous sounding dishes he has served on the El Bulli menu: Easter Egg of Frozen Coconut Milk with Curry Powder, Oyster Leaf with Vinegar Dew, Beetroot and Yoghurt Meringues, and Deep-Fried Rabbit Ears. I’m only sad that with the announcement that the restaurant is to close next year for a period of rest before it is transformed into something entirely different – more on this in the book – I won’t have a chance to taste any of them. Though I doubt that was ever going to be a realistic prospect anyway, as there are reportedly hundreds of thousands of people who enquire about dining there each year.

An inspirational read for any avid foodie or aspiring chef that at times, thanks to Andrews’s evocative food descriptions, had me practically salivating.

Reinventing Food. Ferran Adrià: The Man Who Changed The Way We Eat by Colman Andrews is published by Phaidon Press and available to buy here.

Reader Event

Catch Ferran Adrià and Colman Andrews in conversation at the Royal Geographical Society on October 24^th from 6pm. The duo will be reflecting on Adrià’s career, taking questions from the audience and signing books. For more details visit See Tickets.