I believe in progress, and I believe that cooking and eating are benefiting greatly from new ideas and that today is the best time in the history of the world to eat.
In the developed world, we are affluent enough that cooking can be an art, and today we are benefiting both from the availability of foods from throughout the world and from a great leap forward in technology and creativity.
Recently, four of the most important figures in this 'new cooking' published a manifesto in the British Guardian newspaper. Here is a summary.
Statement on the 'new cookery'
by Ferran Adria (El Bulli), Heston Blumenthal (Fat Duck), Thomas Keller (French Laundry) and Harold McGee
Sunday December 10, 2006 (Observer.co.uk)
The world of food has changed a great deal in modern times. Change has come especially fast over the last decade. Along with many other developments, a new approach to cooking has emerged in restaurants around the globe, including our own. We feel that this approach has been widely misunderstood, both outside and inside our profession. Certain aspects of it are overemphasized and sensationalized, while others are ignored. We believe that this is an important time in the history of cooking, and wish to clarify the principles and thoughts that actually guide us. We hope that this statement will be useful to all people with an interest in food, but especially to our younger colleagues, the new generations of food professionals.
1. Three basic principles guide our cooking: excellence, openness, and integrity.
2. Our cooking values tradition, builds on it, and along with tradition is part of the ongoing evolution of our craft.
3. We embrace innovation - new ingredients, techniques, appliances, information, and ideas - whenever it can make a real contribution to our cooking.
4. We believe that cooking can affect people in profound ways, and that a spirit of collaboration and sharing is essential to true progress in developing this potential.
Read the whole article here: Statement on the New Cooking.
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