Ferran Adrià
Ferran Adrià Acosta (L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1962) was heading for a career in Business Studies, but gave up in 1980 and with the hope of earning enough money to travel to Ibiza, started work as kitchen hand in the Playafels hotel at Castelldefels, where Chef Miquel Moy taught him the basics of cooking. After a stint in Ibiza and at several restaurants in Barcelona he began his military service in the middle of 1982. Posted to the admiral's kitchen, he met Fermi Puig who advised him to do a stint at elBulli, a restaurant in Roses which holds two Michelin stars.
In April 1984, he began work as Head Chef at elBulli. After the departure of Chef Jean-Paul Vinay, elBulli's director, Juli Soler, appointed Ferran and Christian Lutuad as joint Head Chefs. Juli Soler encouraged Ferran to travel to France and learn about the world of haute cuisine. In October 1986, he became the Head Chef at elBulli after Christian Lutuad's departure.
From 1987, Ferran began to put his own particular stamp on the kitchens. His approach was based mainly on local cooking, with an haute cuisine slant. This "Mediterranean style" became an elBulli trademark and would influence both Catalan and Spanish cuisine. 1993 onwards saw a change in Ferran's cooking, and, in addition to the Mediterranean dishes, a series of new concepts appeared, new techniques, production methods and service which would pave the way for the changes at elBulli that by 1994 had become incontrovertible. From that point on, elBulli became a flagship of avant-garde cuisine until 30 July 2011 when it closed and transformed itself into the elBulli Foundation. Heading up this foundation, Ferran Adrià launched an increasing number of projects and challenges in education, innovation and knowledge under the slogan: eat knowledge, feed creativity.
How I found Ibiza...
In 1980, I wanted to go on holiday to Ibiza. I was eighteen and my father agreed I could go on the condition that I worked to pay for it. So, I washed the dishes in a friend's father's restaurant and that's how I started in the food trade. Later, when I went on the holiday, I ended up staying in Ibiza for several months, during which time I also worked as a chef. Ever since then this island has held a special place in my heart, for me it is one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean.
Some of its myriad facets...
If anything sets Ibiza apart, then for me it is the apparent contradiction between tranquillity and the party lifestyle. Ibiza removes that contradiction.
A luxury on the island...
Luxury is being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want, but of course that's not always possible. On Ibiza it is.
My favourite moment...
It's an up and coming place: being able to enjoy Heart for the first time once it opens will be a really magic moment.
A memory when I'm far away...
I think about my time there all those years ago. And of course, the fact that I am a chef, I owe that to Ibiza.
The magic of Ibiza...
You can't explain its magic, Ibiza can't be explained.
What I tell my friends...
There are so many recommendations... That's the richness of Ibiza, its thousands of landscapes, both the island's interior and the coast. Ibizan nights, but the mornings too, a stroll through the countryside, along the beach, that special light, the feeling of being in a place where in a matter of hours anything could happen.