Week 7 Post 2 - Creativity in the World of Cuisine

   In haute cuisine, (fine dining) the entire dining experience is carefully created, not just the dish itself. Brett Littman's comments on a restaraunt, elBulli; "“It wasn’t necessarily the best tasting, but it was the most exciting and profound dining experience I had ever had,” he told me by phone. He was struck not only by the immense technicality of the cooking and the wit behind many of the chef’s sensory tricks—like a nutmeg-sprinkled ostrich “eggshell” made of flash-frozen gorgonzola that had to be manually cracked open and consumed using only your fingers in 18 seconds before it puddled into oblivion—but also by Adrià’s ability to upend diners’ expectations". The act of eating the dish urgently as part of the experience is intentional, and is not the taste itself. The chef that was in charge of elBulli, Ferran Adrià, uses illustrations to visualize his ideas and concepts for dishes. In order to craft experiences in restaurants he helps in Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsay chats with potential customers of a failing restaurant to learn from questions like these; What type of food do they enjoy? What prevents them from eating at the restaurant? What was your last experience like at the restaurant? Gordon uses the responses to these questions to understand the consumer need of the area and thus makes changes in the restaurant to fulfill those needs If the root of creativity is solving a problem you find in the world, Gordon very creatively goes out into the community to find the problems with a particular restaurant and then finds way to fix those problems. With regards to the menu, Gordon often utilizes the creative principle of reduction by converting the offerings of a restaurant from many low quality dishes that lack a defined style to a menu with conservative offerings but of much higher quality and with a continuous style between dishes. This results in better ingredients being used, a greater atmosphere being created, and chefs being more involved and interested in their work. To compliment the taste of the food, Gordon curates the dining space by choosing the paint colors, chairs, tables, and other furnishings. This all ads to the atmosphere and consumer experience.

   To create a mere product is not enough, in haute cuisine chefs must create an entire experience for the diner. They must take into account how the food is presented, consumed, and the atmosphere the dining takes place in. This is equally as important as the taste and smell of the food. To visualize these creative endeavors, Ferran Adrià illustrates diagrams and pictures to organize and develop ideas for dishes, before he even touches the ingredients. In order to creatively solve problems, the problem must be identified first. Gordon Ramsay identifies problems with restaurants by surveying staff and potential customers. The improvements Gordon then makes on the restaurant are guided by the input. Gordon creates an entirely new experience at a restaurant, not just new taste. Gordon chooses furniture and color palettes for the restaurant to add to the overall atmosphere and feel of the establishment. As for taste, Gordon utilizes the creative principle of reduction to reduce the amount of options on the menu but make the offerings that are available spectacular.