01.07.2008
bulthaup in Alicia: Ferran Adrià and Alicia show the way to healthy eating
Aich, July 2008 - The Spaniard Ferran Adrià has repeatedly been crowned best chef in the world; his restaurant "El Bulli” has become legendary. In collaboration with bulthaup, a project has now been set in motion in Sant Benet in Catalonia devoted to research into healthy eating. In his research center, the gastronomer regularly welcomes groups of school children in order to convey to younger generations early on the importance of treating food responsibly and to teach them the fun of cooking.
The quest for new textures, consistencies and taste experiences is what drives the 45-year-old Catalan who, with his molecular gastronomy, has revolutionized cooking. For this reason, he only serves guests during the summer season at his legendary restaurant, "El Bulli.” He spends the rest of the year devoted to his culinary research. And he's now found a brand new, spectacular setting for that research, the "Alicia” project.
"Alicia” is the core of the Mont Sant Benet project, a newly built cultural center in central Catalonia. The acronym "Alicia” stands for a nutrition and research center (Alimentació i Ciènca = nutrition and science) in Manresa, 50 kilometers inland from Barcelona. The aim of the project is to improve nutritional behavior across generations. Crowned "best chef in the world” for the third time, Ferran Adrià is in charge of running the research center, in which the finest Spanish and international chefs experiment and exchange ideas. While the Adrià team is busy experimenting in one part of the monastery, children are learning to cook in another - amid tremendous excitement and with practical support provided in a bulthaup kitchen that has been designed just for them. Entire classes of school children from the region now regularly take part in various seminars and workshops at the monastery. The tuition is always based on the foundation's objectives, to make the principles of healthy nutrition in a way that appeal to the senses, thereby making them tangible, and to place the future of cooking in many young, motivated hands. Thanks to "Alicia,” cooking is becoming a real experience for young students, they knead and chop, they fry and they bake. And in the process, quite unconsciously, they change bad eating habits to good ones and discover that cooking can be fun.
"Alicia” provides the perfect setting for this. In the Middle Ages, the building was a monastery and, just like all of the centers of monastic life featured lush gardens, had a considerable influence on the cultivation of plants, their distribution and use in nutrition. Later, the upper story of the central building was used by the family of the painter Ramon Casas, one of the leading Spanish artists of the 20th century, as a summer residence. The venue therefore has a long tradition of nurturing art and cookery. And visitors to "Alicia” soon realize that cookery is definitely art.
