Creativity was the theme of our post yesterday and if you have missed it, we recommend that you read it. For this week’s round-up we would like to start with another chef that epitomises the word creativity. No one has had an impact on today’s cuisine as much as el Bulli, the iconic Spanish restaurant which closed its doors a few years ago.
His brother Albert Adria, who was also heavily involved in el Bulli is interviewed here about creativity. This is a really interesting interview. He says what really motivates people is fear. And he has a very interesting perspective about meetings, which seem to be the greatest problem of the corporate world today. “At el Bulli we only had the winter to create the menu for next season. That’s why we were very pragmatic and efficient when it came to deciding on new crockery, products… We never had long meetings. Whatever you say after half an hour or 40 minutes is unnecessary.”
Bruges is one of the most picturesque Belgian cities and sometimes called the Venice of the North. A few years ago a brewery opened a bottling facility outside Bruges but continued to brew its beer at its original site in the centre. Now, it got permits to build a 1.8 mile pipeline which will move 6,000 litres of beer every hour instead of having dozens of trucks transporting the beer through the city every day.
Tuscany is one of our all time favourite destinations.. The rolling hills of the Tuscan countryside are spectacular. But Florence as a city has lots to offer. Here you will find a 36 hour guide on this Tuscan city which was published in the New York Times.
The FT Weekend Magazine this week has a great feature about Paris. You will find articles about bistros, food markets, where to find foreign wines in Paris, wine bars, places to eat, Japanese chefs in Paris as well as expats creating new concepts. This feature is very interesting to read and you should indeed save it for your next trip to Paris.
Anthony Bourdain is a chef that has become famous mainly for his TV programmes. We became accustomed to him thanks to two of his book’s a Cook’s Tour and Kitchen Confidential, the latter being incredibly controversial because it spilt the beans on what went on in restaurant kitchens. Here, there is a long but interesting article about his programme Parts Unknown which is starting on CNN.
Booking a place in one of the world’s top restaurants is never easy. But a new company is organising “Dining Impossible” which is a roving series of culinary get-togethers in some of the world’s greatest dining destinations. Read about it here.
Ordering a coffee away from home is not always easy. “Un caffe” in Italy gets you an espresso. In this guide from the Guardian you can read about the different coffees you can find in the various cities and what you should ask for.
Many foods are not good for one’s health. But here is a tip from The Telegraph on the four ‘poisonous foods everyone should avoid’. This is clearly food for thought.
Tuscan winemakers are up in arms against their regional government which recently approved a rural preservation plan saying that too many vines have been planted and warning of risks of soil erosion. The plan, according to this article in the New York Times, has set off something of a war.
We are based in Brussels so to end we give you a list of 42 Brussels restaurants that have committed to respect ‘slow food values’. They are worth supporting.
Leave a Reply