"The Hunger for Learning Made Us the World's Leading Gastronomic Power"

No storming of the Bastille occurred, but there was a victorious assault on France's dominance in haute cuisine. Three decades ago, a handful of Spanish chefs, led by the Adrià brothers, dared to challenge a hegemony rooted in secrecy and dogmatism, embracing creative freedom and shared knowledge. Madrid Fusion Alimentos de España paid tribute to this culinary revolution that placed Spain at the centre of the gastronomic map, where it previously held a marginal position. Nearly thirty chefs and journalists paraded through the main auditorium of the congress, representing just a small part of the long list of protagonists of this regime change. Ferran and Albert Adrià, Joan Roca, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Quique Dacosta, Carme Ruscalleda, Dani García, Massimo Bottura, Gastón Acurio, Yoshihiro Narisawa, and Heston Blumenthal took the stage to share their views on an unforgettable era whose impact is still felt today.

The year 1995 was chosen as a reference for this tribute because it was then that Ferran Adrià's creativity, which had already been raising eyebrows among connoisseurs for years, soared to create a new culinary language. "Until then, we were a country of starving tavern keepers, but with an enormous hunger to learn," said retired critic Rafael García Santos, known for his sharp words that spurred on that avant-garde. He participated alongside Pau Arenós, Marco Bolasco, and Lisa Abend in a debate on the role of specialised press in that creative awakening. García Santos, later acknowledged by many chefs for his role as a catalyst, asserted that "it was the hunger for learning that made us the world's leading power."

The revolutionary explosion occurred in the 90s, but just as the Enlightenment paved the way for the French Revolution, there were pioneers here who sowed the seeds of nonconformity. From the early 80s, figures like Pedro Subijana and Juan Mari Arzak broke away from the inertia of traditional cuisine, adapting the principles of Nouvelle Cuisine to the Basque pantry. However, what emerged a decade later—in Cala Montjoi and many other kitchens across the country—was not an acclimatised version of the French formula, but a new world order, unequivocally dominated by the Spanish. "Things were happening in gastronomy that weren't happening in art or literature," recalled Arenós, author of the generational portrait 'The Cuisine of the Brave.'

The general public has retained the image of foams and spherifications, associating the revolution with a specific style and gadgets like the siphon, now present even in the most modest kitchens worldwide. But the truth is that it was a very heterogeneous movement that quickly adapted to the diversity of gastronomy itself. How do Mugaritz's cuisine and that of Quique Dacosta, Sant Pau, or El Celler de Can Roca compare? ElBulli played an inspiring leadership role in this ecosystem and was, for many now-established professionals, a kind of School of Athens. But the most valuable takeaway from their time in Cala Montjoi was not a set of techniques, but the feeling that they were free to do whatever they wanted. True to this free spirit, hours later, Andoni Luis Aduriz took the same stage to deliver a presentation filled only with questions: "What is the purpose of a gastronomic congress? Is it more exciting to ask questions or find answers? What will we cook in 2040? How many kilometres is kilometre 0? Who judges those who judge restaurants?"

Although yesterday was a time to celebrate their achievements, that revolution also had some shadows. It was built on a labour model incompatible with the work-life balance now demanded by the younger generation in the industry, gave little prominence to women—except for notable exceptions like Ruscalleda or Elena Arzak—and overlooked front-of-house professionals, who lost too soon the figure who could have driven their own revolution, Juli Soler. Adrià himself pointed this out during an intervention far from any sign of self-satisfaction. "At this stage, all I have left is to have fun and help," he said. He concluded by calling for a "strategic plan" to ensure that the sparks of that explosion three decades ago serve to strengthen the sector today.

The question of a future remains in the air, one that grapples with the difficulty of finding successors to iconic figures now greying, the technological challenges threatening the foundational concept of authorship, and the need to elevate the entire gastronomic ecosystem beyond the star chefs. "Today there are better chefs than thirty years ago, but with fewer opportunities to showcase their creativity," warned publicist Toni Segarra, who attempted to name a movement that still lacks a consensus title. In the absence of a better formula, he settled on the title The New York Times gave it in 2003, the New Nouvelle Cuisine, highlighting its victory over French hegemony.