Molecular Gastronomy for the masses? (A Rant)
Posted on May 26 in Meta Talk, Molecular Gastronomyby nikaPrint
Swinging Bacon – Image Source: Alinea Restaurant food gallery
Today I cruised over to Slashfood and saw a post regarding the Gastronomie blog’s day by day expose (a delicious and curious one) on her visit to Alinea in Chicago.I have never visited Alinea but from the accounts you read on Gastronomie and eGullet, it is clearly in the vein of high-tech molecular haute cuisine (Molecular Gastronomy).
The most prominent practitioner of Molecular Gastronomy would be Ferran Adria chef of El Bulli in Rosas, Spain.
As per the Discovery Channel article by Noelle Paredes, the following chefs are also noted MolGas practitioners (listed with one of their keynote dishes):
- Juan Mari Arzak of Restaurant Arzak (San Sebastian, Spain): Pumpkin-and-squid ravioli.
- Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck (Bray, Berkshire, UK): Carpaccio of cauliflower with chocolate jelly.
- Grant Achatz of Alinea (Chicago, IL): Dried Crème Brulee.
- Pino Maffeo of Restaurant L (Boston, MA): Avocado carpaccio with brulee grapefruit.
- Homaro Cantu of Moto (Chicago, IL): Peanut butter and jelly sandwich dumpling.
- Dominique and Cindy Duby of Wild Sweets (Richmond, B.C.): Apple red-cabbage gelee and chestnut praline (chocolate filling)”
If molecular gastronomy is a new concept to you try this google search and some of these links:
- Molecular Gastronomy on the Discovery Channel
- Molecular Gastronomy : Exploring the Science of Flavor by Hervé This.
- Molecular Gastronomy – Wikipedia article
- Various discussions regarding molecular gastronomy at eGullet
- McGee on Food and Cooking : An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture by Harold McGee
Here is a link at L’Epicerie for some of the chemicals one needs to work magic in today’s Molecular Gastronomy, such as agar-agar, calcium chloride, sodium alginate, carrageenan, and other likely molecular grade reagents (from the looks of it on the page).
Calcium Chloride – Image Source: L’Epicerie
Whew, that’s a lot of information and its just a cursory peek at Molecular Gastronomy.
But, after all this, I would like to get to my point.
If you surveyed all these restaurants you would find at least one commonality beyond their use of molecular gastronomy: they are fantastically expensive, some in the range of a half-grand per person.
Here is my point, as a person of regular non-Paris-Hilton means, that sort of price tag makes me nauseous.
I am the sort that can not see spending a lot on a luxury car, new off the lot. I can not fathom spending many 100s of dollars for one night’s stay at a luxury hotel or resort. When faced with these sorts of things, my eyes do not see the value, literally. I gape, I stare, I try to get in touch with my feelings wondering if I am missing something. I am left cold and bit insecure that I am missing some huge not-the-trees-but-the-whole-forest picture.
One can convince themselves, I suppose, that the consumption of a $500 meal is more value-inherent than a night’s stay at a very expensive hotel. You consume the food, you have an intensive interactive experience that will be something you remember the rest of your life.
Sure, but I would not be able to do that.
When you are like me and have to trade precious life for dollars (time away from family and commuting huge distances to work), each dollar spent represents that time lost. It is not value-less or trivial.
Those of us who live at the “bottom of the affluence scale” have no choice but to imbue money with this sort of meaning because it is the deal or trade we make to survive in this economy.
Thus said, to spend, to invest, $500 on 24 micro-dishes, however revolutionary and profound, is folly.
Here is my soap-box and my vision:
Molecular Gastronomy is in some part about play and experimentation. When that spirit is swept away by the nausea that comes with the bill, that is a DARN shame.
I say, let us find a way to make Molecular Gastronomy more populist, more accessible.
I would love to find a way to get training in Molecular Gastronomy (beyond my own PhD in Cell Biology) and teach it as a course in Elementary and High schools and even at the undergraduate level, OUTSIDE of the culinary school setting.
I think Molecular Gastronomy has important things to teach us all BUT the pompous and sickening prices found in the restaurant setting is such a high barrier that it’s message may be lost or never found.
Squab and acupuncture needle – Image Source: Alinea Restaurant food gallery
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How I agree with you! Am I boring when I feel that it is like spitting in the face of the starving masses when you spend that amount on a meal, yes a bit boring but I think that that is what it is! Great post!
ilva: thanks for your comment, am glad I am not alone!
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Hi Nika, I mostly agree with you. But if you consider that a whole season at the El Bulli of Ferran Adria was sold out within less than a day, then it is well worth the price for those paying it.
They do not pay for the value of the food or the service, but for the limited availability.
Most of the Molecular Gastronomy gimicks are very cheap to do yourself at home. Last month I started a blog to document my experiments in this field. It is in German though (gourmetrics.blogspot.com).
Cheers,
Goede
Goede, Very astute point! I was actually trying to give these consumers the beneft of the doubt but I am sure you are right for many of these people.
I will check out your blog.. Ever consider translations?
I for one would appreciate it!
Are you a fellow scientist?
Nika
well I don’t think I even knew about any of this. I am not up on things like that. I have a family to feed instead. I think that acupuncture needle dish is creepy. Maybe that makes me pedestrian but c’est la vie.
My Life As A Reluctant Housewife
Gabriella: not pedestrian! I too have a family to feed and think about that when I see talk of eating $500 meals.
I wonder how many of the people who are into eating out at these uber-expensive restaurants would even know how to feed themselves, let alone a family.
Hi Nika, Fatemeh of Gastronomie here.
I think that one has to consider the context of these meals.
Our visit to Alinea was very special to us in that (a) we considered it our anniversary dinner, and we’ve had a hell of a year and (b) we had the pleasure of sharing it with two people who are very dear to us.
That meal will forever be indelibly burned in our memories, as will the weekend in Chicago. We still marvel at some of the dishes, and the creativity they contained. And we truly had a BLAST together.
So, I guess what I’m saying is that for me, a meal at Alinea is an wondrous experience. It may not be something I would do even once a year, but we made the decision to tighten our belts in other areas in order to splurge on that experience.
Think about it: putting a dollar a day into a jar for a year would give you enough for a meal at Alinea or The French Laundry, or any number of other places. Or, you could spend twice that amount on a daily latte. It’s all about what you choose to put a value on.
Fatemah: 1st this was not meant as a slam on you. I enjoyed your blog entries on Alinea very much because it gave the rest of us a chance to experience something we likely never will. You do not need to “justify” you trip there! It sounds like you had a delightful time.
I would not mind a once in a lifetime chance to go to Masa and have sushi I have never in my life, ever.
But the fact that these restaurants are several orders of magnitude beyond my ability to pay and save for is what I feel is sad in re: it putting molecular gastronomy out of the reach of so many.
Lets just say that 1) I make my own coffees at home, I do not buy expensive Lattes daily like some (might be something like 6 months or more for me now to get one) and 2) with 2 kids and one on the way, if I saved enough money for 500 for all 5 of us, food for one night would not be what I was spending it on. Thats fine. Its all about disposable income.
Perhaps I should not kvetch. I certainly dont complain about people spending lots of money on houses and cars and second houses etc. Its their thing, its the American way, I guess. Food on the other hand seems to have a more common or more encompassing component to it (need to eat, dont need to drive a ferrari) so its easy to forget that food can be a status item as well. Because of this, the prices inflate fantastically, bloating into the impossible range.
Nothing I can say or write here will have an impact on that, its just the way it is.
Thanks so much for writing!
Nika
I agree with you – it IS sad that there are restaurants that are priced so far outside of what most people would call “reasonable”.
You know, there was a post on a public board recently talking about how one couple had spent $750 on the tour at Alinea, and were disappointed. I can’t imagine that kind of letdown. I really can’t. I can’t imagine the nausea that must set in when you realize that you’ve spent several hours and what amounts to rent or mortgage for probably half the country and you didn’t even enjoy it. Nauseating.
And I have to admit, I was REALLY worried about tht at possibility, because I had hyped the damn thing so much.
PS – I absolutely didn’t think it was a dig, at all… I just think this is always an interesting discussion, and thought I’d weigh in.
PPS – Congrats on the upcoming little!
wow. If I were in your shoes, concerned that it might not meet expectations, I am not sure how I would have reacted. I honestly have never been in that position before. Most of my consuming experiences are of the inexpensive kind so I dont feel like I can complain. But with the Alinea situation I might turn into a scary demanding witch that I might not even recognize! *winks*
NOW, if I were single and a guy who drives a ferarri took me out and INSISTED on going to Alinea… I think I would not have any problem with that!
Nika
PS: thanks for the congrats! Talk about expensive, try having a child! The hospital bill for the last child was $20,000 USD! Thank goodness for our insurance.
Hi nika, i am a chef and i wanted to share my opinion form the other side of this subject.
I do agree that spending 500$ a person in a restaurant is alot of money, and i think i speak for most of the chefs working in these restaurants, we ourselves dont go out spending that much money either.
But then why charge these prices?
There are a couple of very good reasons for it.
1st of all to be able to serve these kind of dishes as part of a multicourse tasting menu, consistently to a full restaurant each night requires a huge amount of resources. these restaurants usually have 20 – 30 cooks running around all day, prepping food for 12 to 14 hours straight. the quipment that is used in these restaurants is rather expensive, like immersion circulators etc.
But that is not all. After you considered all the cost of the above, how would you charge the entertaining value that comes with a night out in such a restaurant. How much are you willing to pay if you go to a concert? So why not pay for entertainment in a restaurant that treats you like royalty for a night?
And my last point, and this comes from my heart. I think that in restaurants like that you not only are paying for the ingredients that you get served on your plate, but for the hard work and the creative mind that a chef put into every single dish that leaves his kitchen.
I just wanted to share my opinion on this subject from a chefs point of view, and if you would really like to try items they cook at these fancy restaurants check out their blogs, if they have one. Todays chefs are so much about sharing their recipes, techniques and dishes, its all out there for you to grab and try at home.
Jens
I hope you would not have reservations if I posted a part of this on my univeristy blog?
Chadwick,
It looks like you havent even started blogging yet..? Maybe wait on borrowing until you have some original content.