The Former El Bulli Chef Is Now Serving Up Creative Inquiry

The introduction is superb:

" One day in November, Ferran Adrià, the Spanish chef who turned foods into foams and pioneered a new era in gastronomic innovation while running one of the world’s most popular restaurants, bounced through a loft space in Barcelona. He peered at pencil-sketched mind maps tacked to plastic foam bulletin boards and examined books jammed on narrow shelves — until he reached the end of a display table featuring a variety of Asian soup spoons. Then he stopped.

“I have a question,” he said in Catalan to the small group of visitors and staff members trailing him. “What is wine?”

There was silence. Four seconds, five seconds, 10 seconds. Finally, cautiously, someone offered, “A drink?” Mr. Adrià's eyes widened. “Maybe it is a drink if I put it in a cup. But what if I make it into a sauce and cook with it?” His voice was sharp. More silence. Mr. Adrià spun away and began walking again. “Now,” he said over his shoulder as the crowd shuffled in his wake, “what if I turn the wine into ice cream? What is it then?”