The 23rd edition of Madrid Fusion Food from Spain has kicked off with the title ‘Revolutionaries’ and with the aim of remembering the revolution that was born in Spain thirty years ago to serve as a substratum for the advances that are taking place at the moment. ‘We remember that moment when cuisine broke its limits by working alongside science, physics, chemistry and creativity, because the dust of time falls very quickly on things and it has to be removed so that a new generation that did not live through it can recognise it and inherit its spirit’, said Benjamín Lana, the Madrid Fusión Manager.
From the most technical and innovative cuisine to the most immediate, the one brought to the stage by two other giants of the kitchen, Dabiz Muñoz and Gastón Acurio in a hand by hand of cebiches. Acurio executed three cebiches without completely abandoning tradition. ‘We don't allow ourselves so much creativity because we are the ambassadors of the dish in the world,’ he said. Muñoz, who thanked the Peruvian master for having ‘taught and inspired’ him, made three free versions, the last of which was called Cebiche oriental Gastón.
Acurio said he was ‘deeply grateful’ for the welcome given to the cebiche in Spain, ‘both the chefs who incorporate it into their restaurants and the public who love it’. His cebichería La Mar will soon be operating in Madrid.
The first leader of the revolution that the congress remembers, Ferran Adrià, took to the stage to claim the importance of creating. ‘Only 80 percent of the 200 restaurants that move the world have struggled to break new ground. That is what is called avant-garde,’ he said. Rubén Zubiri, head chef of the restaurant Enigma * (Barcelona), accompanied him on stage and explained the digital tool they are implementing: a digital recipe catalogue.
Among its utilities, the management of purchases, the creation of roadmaps and product sheets, the explanation of the room, or the consultations of the chefs themselves.
Dreams: artificial intelligence and human decisions
The opening day of Dreams presented to a packed auditorium the futuristic vision of a gastronomy that takes advantage of artificial intelligence (AI). ‘It's a creative atomic bomb,’ said master pastry chef Christian Escribà, who uses it to manage his century-old patisserie. Cecilia Tham, from Futurity Systems, focused her presentation on uses such as growing meat inside a tomato or a plant that searches for water and light on its own. Another application is the search for zero waste, which for Albert Franch, chef at Nolla (Helsinki), ‘more than innovation, it is survival’. However, as Pedro Luis Prieto reminded us in his talk, ‘in an ultra-technological world, the most disruptive aspect will be the human aspect’.
