It requires that we put ourselves on the same streets of the people we would like to offer new services or products to.  We cannot simply sit behind a desk and target potential consumers with ideas which are created in a vacuum.

Corporations are more comfortable when they are able to absorb information that is presented in un-ambiguous volumes of information such as with infographics, data plots, matrix charts and/or clear examples that illustrate the archetypical consumers mated to a given technology.  See Ford’s Antonella, a Computer Generated personas used in development.

However here is where the problem arises, because most companies are too focused on their day-to-day production to really see any greater potential for other adjacent services, similar markets or entirely new opportunities thus limiting their capability to even begin thinking about taking a ‘calculated risk’.  Identifying and developing an entirely new product, experience or service requires a Re-Think, Re-imagining and Reset of business as usual.

Most companies already know who they want to target and what they are willing to spend, but what they don’t know and don’t have, are all the cultural points of reference, the interviews, the video-diaries,  the deep insights that come from knowing and understanding their ‘target market’ intimately.  Companies can literally get stuck when it comes to identifying new social classes that are yet to exist 10 years (even 15 years +) from now into the future.  Experimenting with branding techniques and products that aren’t really connected or based with anything that is current quickly loses relevance, authenticity and meaning.   Internal Design studies and Innovation work really start to break-down because no one actually knows who these future consumers really are.  Again, this is not an Engineering issue, it is an Anthropology study, also a Futurist’ scenario and a Qualitative research issue.

This is why a consultancy such as Idea Couture make sense for companies who wish to understand, utilize and implement foresight strategy that take responsibility for identifying, examining and creating innovative solutions for future target markets.

This issue is often referred to as a ‘wicked problem’, which is to say that the solutions are not obvious, nor are they transparent or easily recognizable upon initial inspection. The real answers are not known only until after someone has solved it.

Furthermore, if any attempt is made to solve a particular issue as an individual part of a wicked-problem, then it could potentially do more harm than good.  To ignore the over-lapping of adjoining issues for products and services is like to going into a field of land mines blind-folded.  You need innovation that that allow you to navigate the most effective  way through using the right tools and taking the right steps.

The opportunities to solve these issues cohesively, requires groups of different and complimentary minds (that do not have a conflict of interest in developing solutions) to work together as a team to create points of cultural reference, identify weak signals, map out scenarios and if need be engage even more raw ideas from un-biased participants.  This synergy-approach eludes most corporations primarily because each node of expertise comes from completely different and diverse set of backgrounds, which is normally not associated with human resources that are  available within an established organization.  What ultimately facilitates desired outcomes for Idea Couture clients is essentially our diversity and key competencies within our respective areas of expertise.

However, striking this balance in the modern world, and more importantly the emerging world must take on a different meaning.  As the old notions of luxury are challenged, they must make way for a new set of user dynamics and offer solutions to the people who live in the growing Megacities (cities with populations over 10 million).

In 2000, there were 18 megacities – conurbations such as Mumbai, Tokyo, New York City, and Mexico City had populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35 million, which is greater than the entire population of Canada.  (source: Wikipedia)  2015 and beyond will also  see cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, added to this list to name a few.

Transportation on the whole is beginning to splinter into many different value streams such as delivery-on-demand, hub-to-hub services and deliveries, international condo cruisers, executive coaches, virtual garages, post-materialistic neighborhood eco-cars, shared-public vehicles, super-budget-sub $3000, and also new derivatives of personal mobility leading to even more avenues.

As Mega-cities become the norm, consumer attitudes will shift further away from the traditional aspiration of commuter vehicle ownership.  The costs associated with owning, insuring, driving, navigating, re-fueling, re-charging and parking will begin to unravel the notion of investing in one single mode of transport.  In its place, we will see more services based types of transportation.  All it will take are a few entrepreneurs who can splice together on-demand services with real-time users who consumers who are looking for more than just a taxi.

We must search out new ways of mobility, in terms of prestige, convenience, adaptability, affordability, dependability, the “raison d’etre” …… and we must find them quickly.  For consumers, they must be offered some form of tangible incentive, be it joy from the sheer act of being mobile, entertainment, price or convenience.

In terms of Engineering and Design, there are studies currently taking place around the use of robotics in the transportation industry; GM EN-V is one example of a technology demonstrator, and is now on display now at the Shanghai World Expo. The EN-V operates on technology borrowed from Segway, and the entire vehicle is half the size of a Smart car, fully electronic, has a top speed of 25 mph, and is capable of making turns 360 degrees in-place.Another example is the T.25 concept from Gordon Murray (Designer of the famous supercar; McLaren F1), which demonstrates foresight for government regulations, and fuel economy mandates, which are expected by the year 2020.

Transportation technologies have the ability to facilitate change, but ultimately adoption of this will rely completely on the behavior of how humans move about.  Metropolitan cities are more fashion conscious, and urban dwellers are more interested spending money on others things rather than to automobiles.  These people have other desires for items; shoes, purses, headphones, jackets etc…  But human behavior is not an engineering subject and neither is fashion. Therefore, the future scenarios of personal mobility will be less about pure Engineering, more about Ethnography and Designing towards consumer tastes and their unique interests.

Soon, consumers will not care so much about who manufactured their product, but instead they will be more interested in what Designer, Stylist, Co-creator or Theme Artist customized their mobility.  As this scenario evolves it will begin to see an over-lapping of transport services that combines with fashion design, product design, and experience design.

The Clever Little Bag by Puma

Recently Puma announced the Clever Little Bag that will reduce their environmental footprint. As a shoelover, a shoebox is not only an environment problem but a space saving issue that involves all shoelovers who live in small condos. The Clever Little Bag not only solves the bigger problem at hand such as sustainability and carbon emission but it also reduces cluster in everyone’s home.

The R3 Green experiment by Petz Scholtus and Sergio Carratala

I stumbled upon this article on ReadyMade magazine and its about a Spanish couple in Barcelona who turned their own home into a green experiment. The couple used as many recycled materials as they could to create a carbon neutral home that follows the 3R principles: Reduce, Recycle, Respect. One of the coolest things in their apartment is the Wine Crate cabinets in the kitchen. You can follow the instruction and make one yourself with this check list.

Obsessive Consumption by Kate Bingaman-Burt
Obsessive Consumption started out as an art project by Kate Bingaman and it’s a project that I have been following for a few years. Kate, the artist, started out by creating a personal record of what she buys everyday and she draws out credit card statements for every single item she buys. The collection of drawings is getting bigger and bigger and she has finally started a blog to document this project. Why is this project green you ask? The drawings of what we consume serve as a reminder for all of us to think twice about how much we consume on this planet and by looking at the colourful drawings of these consumptions you are able to reflect on your own. When everyone is doing it- that’s a good starting point for reducing waste.

Happy Earth Day!

Months after eating at El Bulli my thoughts and perspectives on the meal are still changing: Certain taste memories are extremely vivid and seem to get stronger, others are bizarrely still changing. It has also been fascinating to compare and contrast my experience there with other innovative culinary experiences. I recently dined at what for me was the best vegetarian meal of my life at Ubuntu in Napa Valley (they have their own farm), the most delicate, thoughtful and multi-element sushi I have ever eaten at O Ya in Boston (they must have over 100 ingredients they use over and above the fish), the best hand crafted cocktails, flatbread pizzas and locavore comfort food at Nopa in San fran (they also have an amazing selection of small batch rums) and the best service at Blue Hill in NYC (the farm fresh ingredents, impeccable techniques and quirky wines also make this one of the best restos in the US). What is both refreshing and exciting is the vast array of what I will call “creative culinary platforms” that continue to emerge, each with its own soul and a visionary like Feran Adria.

and so the meal continued…

RAZOR CLAM SASHIMI, LEMON FOAM & BABY SEAWEED SALAD

It took a few minutes to recover from the eccentricities of the previous course: South American Lulo Fruit, Cocoa Infusion, Yogurt Cream. We go from crazy to classic. Simple, beautifully presented raw razor clams with a warm lemon foam and a mixture of 6 different types of seaweed on the side. We could be on a fishing boat as we pop razor clams with a squeeze of lemon and some of the seaweed caught in the nets but here we are at the world’s most famous three star restaurant. This dish has great textural variation and carries a theme of discovery in the distinct rare forms of seaweed that each carry a distinctive bite. This plate is almost a perfect edible facsimile of the ocean and about as Catalonian as you can get. The fresh razor clams both sweet and briny contrasting with the lemon foam that is less jarring and intense than the standard squeeze of lemon.

RAW WALNUT RISOTTO, BRAISED ENDIVE, WALNUT OIL

We go from land to sea and back to land again with one of the most creative rissotos I have ever eaten – made with raw, immature walnut pieces instead of cooked rice in a creamy Parmesan laced sauce and drizzled with walnut oil. This is what happens when nuts and risotto marry. In this case, the nuts are naturally al dente, mimicking the classic Italian risotto in a new way. It’ snot that this tastes any better or worse than a perfect risotto, it’s the imagination it took to dream it up that is amazing. Like the raw almonds used in a previous course, this dish is both seasonal, local, imaginative and confounding. The flavours are rich and comforting at the same time.

ABALONE, JAMON FAT, BABY BLACK TRUMPET MUSHROOMS, SEAWEED & CILANTRO SPROUTS

This course may have been my favourite for it’s rich and intense flavours, textural variation, powerful umami and surprising mouth feel. Pieces of meaty Abalone (a Cantonese delicacy popular in Hong Kong) are interpersed with warm, melt in your mouth, pieces of Jamon d’iberico fat (think lardo) topped with baby black trumpet mushrooms, an intense dark jus made with what tasted like real stock and topped with tiny cilantro sprouts. This may be Ell Bulli’s version of surf n’ turf, ironically with the sea element (Abalone) being meatier and the land element (Jamon fat) being both visually and texturally softer and close to the classical sea element. The mushrooms oull it all together by representing the same terreir where the iberico pigs roam and the same flavour spectrum and colour of the Abalone. The baby cilantro sprouts add a tiny element of freshness and surprise. The other intersting thing about this dish si that both the Abalone and the Jamon are two of the world’s most famous preserved foods with both being classic “umami” based foods. For a Chinese pallet that welcomes and almost demands unique textural variations and bite this dish could win a culinary gold medal. A week after eating it, I still have powerful memories of it and cravings to eat it again.

SEARED SEA CUCUMBER, POACHED RHUBARB, MENTAIKO SAUCE

This dish continues the textural parade and as with many other dishes, is limited to a small number of ingredients. Courses at El Bulli are not broad fusion mash-ups but well constructed architectures of 2, 3 or 4 ingredients impeccably sourced. With so few ingredients, perfection in both sourcing and preparation is critical. One might wonder how El Bulli creates so much surprise, joy and gastatory stimulation with so few ingredients and yet this is a perfect illustration of their genius. Nowhere to hide, no tricks, no shortcuts. Even their use of gastro science techiniques while serving to enhance the delivery of flavours is one of many tools in the arsenal. The most interesting thing, course after course, is the immense thought and experimentation that they have obviously taken in determining which ingredients should go together and how. This is where the 6 months spent at the El Bulli workshop in Barcelona become most apparent and it continues to explain why El Bulli continues to be ahead of other 3 star resturants. This dish combines seared sea cucumbers which have a similar bite and flavour to squid with a more complete taste profile. Instead of a squeeze of lemon, the kitchen pairs them with little nuggets of lightly poached rhubarb – a perfect acidic offset and

RAW OYSTER, RABBIT BRAIN, SEA ANEMONE IN A WARM OYSTER JUICE BROTH

This has to be one of the most unique dishes from any chef anywhere in recent memory. Originally conceived at the El Bulli workshop in 2008 this dish was brought in 2009, presumably because of what it says about the creative team at El Bulli. This is surf and turf reinvented. Inspired by other versions many of us have experience: Veal with Tuna sauce from Italy, Scallops and oxtail, kobe beef and langoustines, bluefin tuna and foie gras at Aqua when Michael Mina was in his pre franchise phase. It starts with the textural slightly jelly like consistency of sea anemone (who knew it was edible) combined with raw osters (creamy ones like a kumamoto from BC) and even creamier rabbit brain that looks and feels like an oyster but is richer and buttery like foie gras.

EXPLODING POLENTA GNOCCHI, PARMESAN CREAM, COFFEE POWDER, FRIED CAPERS

When I think about gnocchi I think about potatoes and a soft bite but this version brings together ultra soft polenta pockets that pop open when eaten. The texture of the polenta combines with a savoury parmesan cream, fried crispy salty capers and a small amount of coffee powder that build a nutty roasted layer of flavor. Creamy, rich. surprising, certainly a little Italian – Turin meets parma. It’s almost as if this dish emanated from one of Adria’s weekend jaunts to Italy?

SUCKLING PIG TAIL WITH CANTALOUPE & TOFU CUBES IN JAMON BROTH

This dish represents the mount everest of Umami, the salty savoury flavour found in foods such as soy sauce, anchovies, parmesan cheese and of course Jamon Iberico. A late meal play off of Prosciutto and melon with a host of interesting textures. Warm salty broth made from cured Jamon Iberico with small pieces of sweet juicy melon and creamy tofu sits next to the spanish version of peking duck – ultra crisp pig skin that also has a chewy finish. This is porcine heaven!

PALLET CLEANSER OF WATER LILLY, CASHEW CREAM DROPS & EDIBLE FLOWERS

Many months later this dish still confounds me. While it was certainly cleansing in a menthhol meets medicinal balinese fashion, it was completely foreign and not what I would call pleasurable. Sort of gourmet mouthwash with small pelets of cashew cream that reminded me of health food store toothpaste. The dish reminded me of the lobby at the Four Seasons resort near Ubud in Bali that has a small pond on the roof and a host of water based flowers. Exceptionally posititive memories but not something I ever thought I would eat.

The meal was finally over. What will dessert hold?

Today, I’m waiting for a flight in Boston Logan airport. And for a change, I’m delighted. What is clear is that this airport has put a bit of effort into some thoughtful design. Armed with my trusty iPhone and an hour until take-off, I thought I’d share a few of the design elements of terminal E that have been pleasantly surprising.

1. Human Centered Seating
Generally speaking, seating in airports is terrible. We’ve all been stuck on old torn leather chairs in dehumanizing rows with uncomfortable leather arm rests designed to ward off delayed travellers looking for a rest. Well Logan has clearly thought about the design of its seating.

While those old friends with sharp arm rests are indeed present (and serve a necessary use), Logan clearly understands that travellers are humans, and humans interact. In addition to the uncomfortable classic, Logan has clearly examined the types positions people sit in at the airport. Ever put your feet on your travel luggage? Well they offer a slightly reclined chairs with a foot rest for the tired. Ever awkwardly sit to have a conversation with the person you’re travelling with? Well Logan has chairs in V formations that allow people travelling together to have a comfortable face-to-face conversation.

In an industry where everyone has to wait, this airport has thought about how to make waiting a little more comfortable.

2. Inviting Spaces
Travel presents a long period of maintained stress. Airports must be one of the lowest quality experiences for the money. A visit to the spa costs you a hundred bucks. Airport taxes aren’t that far off that price.

While an airport can’t necessarily fix all of the experience breakdowns of flying, Logan has created some opportunities for escapism. The airport features several spaces that allow passengers isolate themselves from other travellers to relax. Including these spaces (and offering rocking chairs) gave me the right kind of escape to work on this post.

3. Understanding the needs of the Modern Traveler
As a business traveler, I often look at the airport as my office. A few months ago, I flew out of the Buffalo airport on my way to Boston for some meetings.  As any business traveler flying in the afternoon would do, I entered the terminal and looked for the nearest plug to make sure I had enough juice for the flight. Upon further investigation, every potential outlet was covered in impenetrable metal. The only available outlets? A “Pay for Power” station offering me a charge for a charge.

Logan clearly understands that waiting is more pleasant with entertainment, and modern entertainment requires a plug. Everywhere I looked, there was a free outlet – no co-opted marketing angle, no sitting on the floor next to an outlet because there were no chairs around. Just an understanding of what people need.

4. Wi-Fi for All
In addition to the four letter words most regular travellers drop regularly while being dehumanized, we have a six letter word as well – Boingo. In a world that increasingly looks at the internet as a right not a privilege, the idea of paying $10.00 for 24 hours of Wi-Fi is insulting. Do your passengers a favour – give them a little internet access in exchange for their airport tax dollars.

Logan airport progressively offered me free Wi-Fi upon arrival (all be it, sponsored by Google).  The result? I could catch up on a bit of work and find enough time to jump on  Wordpress and offer the airport my compliments. When you have a good experience, you return the favour. If anyone is reading this – connect through Logan.

Airports with empathy
Sure, not all design changes lives. But we should never forget that good experiences certainly have the ability to impact them. Designing a decent airport experience is not rocket science, and a good experience at an airport could go a long way towards helping an industry notorious for experience breakdowns.

Logan airport was certainly not perfect, but what’s obvious is that it was designed with empathy. Somehow, they’ve managed to understand traveler needs and behaviours, and support them with the best design and features they can. Logan airport tries in an industry with a terrible reputation for under-delivering on customer experience, and I can’t help but leave with a positive perspective on my visit.

Have you had a great airport experience recently? Leave a comment and let us know what made it so great for you.

Rubber boots and metal sheers in tow, I was ready to heave and hoe (and all the other farm-appropriate gestures) my way along the learning curve – my green thumb had previously been limited to some potted basil and a few house plants. I expected organic farming on a large scale would be complicated. I didn’t realize it would be so inspiring.

This farm used permaculture, a design method that mimics the architecture and relationships in natural ecologies to develop sustainable agricultural practices. In other words, the organic ‘food forest’ (which requires zero fossil fuels) was bursting with diverse produce, wild flowers and life, thanks to the network of ecosystems nurtured within it. With a bit of nature-inspired design, a sustainable and rich ecosystem was created and did an unbelievable job at contributing to its own maintenance.

I was fascinated and unbelievably curious – farming is an obvious place to mimic nature’s design, but what about business? What about manufacturing, packaging and services? After all, 3.8 billion years of R&D later and we can’t deny that nature is the authority on the design of sustainable systems.

The interwebs led me to Bio-Mimicry, a design discipline committed to developing sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies.

What can inter-species cooperation and competition teach us about building communities? What can the butterfly’s wings teach us about self-cleaning material? What can wind-turbines learn from flying birds? How would nature heat and cool a home? These are the kinds of questions BioMimicry seeks to answer – and with cool open-source projects like The Biomimicry Institutes’ AskNature,, the answers are right at our fingertips.

At a time when the often-daunting task of designing for sustainability is a top priority for many businesses, this is especially intriguing. Biomimicry can be a powerful tool for innovation on the road to more sustainable designs and processes. Nature can demonstrate the underlying simplicity of seemingly complicated processes – so take another look, what can you learn from your own backyard?

Ps. Intrigued? Check out this great TED talk video for examples of how nature is already inspiring design.

After getting multiple complains from many people and becoming hesitant when sending out any sort of text, I was finally fed up enough to go to the phone company and ask them what the problem was.

The local phone company kiosk I visited told me to directly call the phone company on my cell phone and that they would re-set my phone system. As far as I can remember, the number to call from your cell phone to reach the service provider has always been *611. It may have been the sales associate handwriting, or perhaps I was crossed-eyed for a split second, but the sheet of paper with the “*611” on it clearly read “*Cell” to me. I started to think, was it coincidence or were these three seemingly random numbers strategically chosen to subliminally remind us what the numbers mean?

I started to think that all of the numbers were strategically chosen to carry some form meaning or association. Another example I thought of was “411” the telephone directory. Did you know that “411” can also be read as “ALL”? I have done some light research, but I haven’t found any hard evidence that suggests this was deliberate. I however, would love to talk to the person who picked the numbers to see if it was a coincidence or not.

- Jess

How do you see the future of multitouch heading? Something more along these lines? I’ve personally found touch desktop all-in-ones to be somewhat pointless, and the only time I use the touch feature is for switching my media.

Check out this amazing video, you’ll be amazed.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Here it is: my crazy summer project to reinvent desktop human-computer interaction.

This video examines the benefits and limitations inherent in current mouse-based and window-oriented interfaces, the problems facing other potential solutions, and visualizes my proposal for a completely new way of interacting with desktop computers.

There’s more information at http://10gui.com .

The real differentiation occurs when co-creation is opened up on a product or service design level. While there are numerous examples of co-creation fuelling product design, incorporating it into service design is often exponentially more complex. Unless you are Subway with an intentionally modular product/service, it can be difficult to scale personalized service. As a result, this is where most companies draw the line in their attempts to socialize their offerings. However, it is often forgotten that there are two parties in most service relationships. By not empowering employees to co-create within the service and brand context, organizations are missing an opportunity to provide exceptional consumer experiences and cost-effectively spur organization wide innovation through ground level explorations.

The video below (ZOMG so old) is an example of the type of experiences can emerge when organizations empower their employees to creatively deliver (for the record, I am not entirely convinced this video isn’t the machination of some clever marketing people, but let’s assume it is legit). Have you ever seen faces like that during or after the pre-flight safety announcements? The passengers were provided with not only a unique experience, but a story (and a branded one at that). Those unique customer experiences cannot be driven from the top down. Even if this video had not appeared on YouTube, it would have been an inherently social experience, driving positive word of mouth.

Common Understanding of Strategic Intent
In order for employees to proactively innovate the brand experience, they need to have a clear understanding of the organization’s strategic intent, which is not the organizational goals (sell more burgers, sell more electronics, sell more coffee), but an understanding of how the organization intends to arrive at those goals. However, there is a careful balance required where enough direction is provided to ensure strategic alignment while allowing enough flexibility to adapt to scenarios. For example, take a basketball team. Assuming they understand the game, the goal is clear, score more baskets than the other team, but how do you go about that? As the coach, you could map out plays and call them out for the bench. However, this approach becomes limited when the other team makes adjustments or a play breaks down. Alternatively, you could teach players to understand spacing and movement on the floor, which would enable them to function within the system, but still react appropriately to the variables. The latter is what is required in order to successfully co-create at a service level.

Hackability
In order to empower employees to operate with strategic intent, it is necessary to allow freedom within procedure to allow for hacking. A great example of this would be a waitress confronted with a patron with severe food allergies who before making a recommendation to a patron asks several questions and leverages their understanding of the preparation of items on the menu to suggest a mash-up of two entrees (a la the McGangBang, more on that to come in a later video post).

Collaborators, Not Minions
While everybody is capable of creativity, some are certainly better than others. Those are the people you want to hire. However, you will have to be prepared to provide them with a level of autonomy sufficient to not only allow them to integrate their creativity into their function, but also to keep them engaged.

Celebration and Sharing
One of the keys to driving creativity is inspiration. Organizations need to develop platforms and mechanisms to allow examples of extraordinary service experiences to be shared, celebrated and discussed. How can a San Francisco Hilton front desk employee learn and be inspired by their counterpart in Boston? Front line employees are rarely, if ever, given the opportunity to share and discuss their experiences beyond their immediate co-workers. By allowing and incenting large scale cross-pollination, the best experience innovations will proliferate across the organization and those that are able to continually innovate will have the opportunity to be recognized as thought leaders within their function.

This is the second in a four part series on my adventure ding at El Bulli. Before heading up the coast to Roses I spent some time in Barcelona exploring the Boqueria market. The market is the perfect place to understand the terroir of Catalonia and a major inspirational source for Ferran Adria’s cooking. On my first day, my friend Scott Danielson took me to a small stall in the market for breakfast. It was no more than 200 square feet of space run by three brothers. I started with a strong cortado coffee and a fresh squeezed orange juice. Fresh seafood was displayed in sushi like display fridges. Razor clams, sea cucumber, fresh giant prawns, tiny baby squid, sardines, small spiny lobsters and a variety of fish. Everything was cooked a plancha and often drizzled with a squirt of olive oil spiked with garlic and parsley. Breakfast was a piece of spanish tortilla, fried wild mushrooms from a local forager and baby squid. Simple, rustic, clean gorgeous food that made me want to move to Barcelona permanently. As the meal at El Bulli evolved from snacks into a more complex series of courses, seafood appeared in many forms and while seemingly complex, was often rooted in the Creative Catalonian terroir of Ferran Adria’s mind…

Seafood at The Boqueria Market

OYSTER LEAF WITH RED WINE VINEGAR CAVIAR & RED ONION DICE

A simple, small green leaf: seemingly no different from a basil or sage leaf but unbeknown to it’s eater, a mystery lies in its flavour. A tiny “caviar” like drop of red wine vinegar and micro cube of red onion sit on the surface mimicking a mignonette found in the world’s oyster bars.  Start chewing on the leaf and you think you have just shot back an oyster – yet there is no oyster to be found. The leaf tastes distinctly and uniquely of oyster. The waiter smiles as he awaits our reactions. How can a leaf taste like this. It is completely confounding and tricks the brain as many other elements of the meal suceed at doing.  Oyster leaf is originally from Canada (something few Canadian foodies have ever heard about) but more commonly sourced from Holland which is where El Bulli gets them from. An oyster course like no other!

WARM HAZELNUT OIL, COLD SPRING WATER & MALDON SEA SALT FLAKES: “AGUACEITE”

Seemingly one of the simplest experiences at El Bulli and yet one of the most rewarding. It starts with what looks like a science experiment with two waiters. The first pours cold mineral water into a round glass. The second then pours a thin 1 cm layer of warm hazelnut oil on top. Flakes of maldon sea salt are then sprinkled on top and slowly float down through the oil to sit at the bottom of the glass to slowly dilute. A play on the separative nature of oil and water and designed to come together in the mouth. First, the warm oil corners the palette with intense nutty purity. The waiter encourages us to slowly turn the glass as we sip. This ensures that both cold water and warm oil enter at the same time – temperature, textural, temporal and taste contrast of the highest order. Towards the end, the cold water turns slightly salty from the dissolved salt to heighten the taste of creamy hazelnut oil. Who knew that three (two without the water) basic ingredients could create such an interesting experience.

GORGONZOLA MOSHI

It looks like a white moshi cookie made of sweet rice flour but is actually an explosion of blue cheese liquid and pieces of cheese. Normally the mouth slowly melts a piece of cheese when it enters the mouth, but in this case the moshi dumpling explodes with gorgonzola shooting around the mouth like an erupting volcano. It leaves the teeth and tongue to still do their work with the smaller pieces of cheese that escape the microscopically thin skin that is holding it all together. This experience redefines the “piece” of cheese as an oral roller coaster into the stratosphere of gustatory delight.

At this point we are almost a third of the way through the meal, but one senses that Adria’s team has merely been toying with us. The little snacks and dishes so far, play with the senses and our expectations. They creatively present 1, 2 or 3 flavours, often in unique combination, but they are merely the opening act, lacking the deeper, thought provoking complexity of dishes to come. While many of the snacks get the chatter and buzz, it is the middle courses that demonstrate the chef’s depth of research, thought, curiosity and of his deep rooted understanding of how source elements get combined, layered and interspersed. This is the farthest possible thing from fusion confusion or fussy side elements that sit alongside the centerpiece. The dishes that follow are like a Mozart symphony or a Gaudi building – elements (many of them) tastes, smells, textures, memories, expectations, chemical reactions, surprises, changing states, colours, flavours, sounds, feelings, likes, dislikes, people and personalities that come together to form a metaphysical journey that is completely disconnected from any other restaurant experience on the planet.

EXPLODING GIANT WHITE BEANS WITH A THIN LAYER OF JAMON FAT IN BEAN BROTH

For someone who grew up eating giant lima beans cooked by a great grandma in Montreal’s tavernas (Greek fish restaurants) and bean and bacon soup from my own Hungarian grandmother, this dish was an emotional journey back in time – both comfort food and shocking Spanish reinvention of a classic. In a small bowl were what appeared to be two giant lima beans sitting in their cooking liquid with thin slices of Iberian ham fat, softly melting on top of each bean. But the bean was not actually a bean! They were actually thick, rich white bean soup formed into the shape of a bean. As I take a bean with the translucent fat and some of the broth into my mouth, everything explodes. Warm bean soup, very thick, the thinner cooking liquid, the melting saltiness of the Iberian ham fat, a childhood memory flies by – the brain suddenly connected to the past and simultaneously to the present taste sensation which defies expectations. Comfort food, molecular gastronomy, intellectual curiosity and organaleptic confluence – salty, thick, rich, simple yet intense. For generations, beans have been cooked with pork of one kind or another in most European countries but this version has triggered the closest thing one can have to an orgasm of the palette.

PRAWNS COOKED AT TWO TEMPERATURES

The contrast between a sweet, wild shrimp, hours or minutes out of the sea and the frozen Costco variety are like night and day. Fresh shrimp don’t travel well. The Spanish take for granted the abundance of fresh shrimp typically grilled a la plancha with just sea salt and a smattering of olive oil. Shrimp is in the Spanish blood and this dish demonstrated that it may be in Ferran Adria’s soul. More than any other, this dish showed how rooted he is in the ingredients, passions and sensibilities of Spanish culinary history. While many see the shrimp for it’s meaty tail, passionate seafood lovers (Ferran Adria included) see the head and the wonderful juices that one sucks out of it as the true delicacy. Ferran has been known to talk about his fascination with the purity of these juices. While it may not be pretty, sucking the head of a fresh shrimp can be a magical experience. This dish had precisely 2 elements: fresh shrimp and sea salt but the magic in this case lies in how the shrimp has been cooked and “not” cooked. Although the shrimp is (intact, whole, in one piece) with head on, it has been cooked to varying degrees. The tail is raw, yet slightly warm shrimp sashimi, the middle part is slightly cooked and the head and little legs are ultra crisp, shattering as you bite into them. What just happened? Shrimp three ways, not in separate little mounds as in other high-end restaurants but in one shrimp. 30 seconds of prawn pleasure.

BABY CUTTLEFISH COOKED A LA PLANCHA , SQUID INK & PESTO RAVIOLI

Baby cuttlefish get delicate treatment across Catalonia, often dressed with olive oil, herbs and a little garlic. Common in Barcelona’s Boqueria Market, they are exceptionally tender, sweet and addictive. But at El Bulli things once again get reinterpreted – flavours layered in new ways. In this case, the baby squid is seared with small triangular liquid pockets of pesto sauce the size of small breath mints. As one takes a spoonful of squid along with a pocket of sauce into the mouth, the soft bite/chew of the squid gets splashed and coated with a vinaigrette of sorts. The liquid pesto doesn’t overwhelm the squid like a traditional pesto would with its thick parmesan/pine nut/olive oil basil mixture. These are flavours designed to live together, traditional yet new and unexpected.

Umami – By this point in the meal, one starts to see the umami mastery that Adria delivers to diners at El Bulli. Traditionally found in foods like parmesan, miso, anchovies and tamari, Adria mixes and manipulates the delivery of umami in the same way drug dealers deliver their hit to addicts. His rainbow of umami creates powerful fond memories, cravings, brain pleasure and experience.

EGG YOLK DUMPLINGS, BONITO BROTH, WASABI, SHISO, YUZU POWDER & SESAME

This next course extends the umami parade while creating a collage of Japanese flavours that synthesizes many of the most distinctive elements of the Japanaese kitchen. At the center of this dish are small egg yolk dumplings with the smooth consistency of a soft boiled egg yolk that has been half cooked. These tic tac sized dumplings float in a dashi broth surrounded at the edges with a small amount of fresh grated wasabi root, yuzu powder made from the juice of the fragrant citrus fruit common in Japan (think lemon on steroids), sesame, ginger and seaweed. Reminiscent of both a Japanese udon noodle soup (the udon noodles replaced with the little yolk dumplings) and an intricate Kaisekei presentation this dish takes me back to both Ryonkans in Kyoto and noodle bars in Tokyo. How does it do both simultaneously? It presumably succeeds as our experience is driven by Ferran’s frequent trips to Japan and his obvious fascination with their ingredients.

PUMPKIN MERINGUE BAGUETTE, SUMMER TRUFFLE, RAW ALMONDS & ALMOND CREAM

This course may have been one of the cutest presentations of the night – a little mini baguette sandwich that completely confounded us. Nothing was as it seemed. The bread was actually a super light pumpkin flavoured meringue. The filling consisted of thin slices of nutty truffle and tender, raw almonds (in season). Bite into the sandwich and the bread (pumpkin meringue) quickly dissolves as the truffle slices break into little fragments alongside the slight crunch of the raw almonds. What is going on here? Is this just a cute, playful experience or something more? Initially I am not sure but on further reflection, it represents three strata of terroir: subterranean (underground) – truffle; on the ground (surface) – pumpkin and above ground (hanging from the sky) – almonds. While other ingredients could be combined for similar visual or textural contrast, nothing can come close to the manifestation of terroir and co-habitational flavours that Adria assembles. In Italy, it would be pumpkin ravioli with pine nuts and truffles – it would make perfect sense, luscious and satisfying, it would be comforting, and remind you of the Tuscan countryside, but it would NOT force you into gastomic Freudian Analysis as this dish does. A meal at El Bulli is not designed with pure pleasure in mind, it is designed to stimulate thought and force one to confront stereotypes that we don’t even realize we are creating. This more than anything, seems to possibly drive the reservation selection process at El Bulli. Can you show you are ready and excited to go through this process of analytical deconstructionism. Will you? 18 courses into the meal you are already hyperstimulated – more than you would be over the course of 3-4 meals at other high-end restaurants… and the meal is only half over. This is not just about creativity and molecular gastronomy – others can easily copy that. It is about a deep process and study of innovation, about a philosophy that is underpinned with a deep discovery and understanding of ingredients, new technologies, new techniques and new perspectives.

TOMATO COATED WITH BLACK OLIVE EMULSION, BLACK GARLIC, DEHYDRATED TOMATO LEAVES WITH BASIL POWDER.

Take the ripest, sweetest mini tomato and quickly poach it in boiling water to remove the skin. Quickly dip it in a thick puree of black sundried olives with a little aged balsamic vinegar. It looks like a black golf ball. Pop it in your mouth and the intensity of the black olive coats your tongue as the cherry tomato explodes – liquid, seeds and flesh. Now try it again but this time with what looks and smells like a basil leaf, except that it is dehydrated tomato puree in the shape of a leaf and dusted with basil powder. The basil powder re-hydrates in your mouth and slowly layers in a familiar flavour in an unexpected way. What starts off in your mouth as crispy quickly takes the form of a concentrated tomato jam that adds another layer of tomato flavour. Adria starts with the ingredients for a basic tomato salad: tomatoes, black olives, basil, olive oil, aged balsamic vinegar and sea salt and creates these complex kid friendly balls that make you laugh, savor and inhale.

SOUTH AMERICAN LULO FRUIT, COCOA INFUSION & YOGHURT CREAM

This next course started with a strong dose of showmanship. The waiter places a plate in front of us with what looks like pieces of green goo (yes goo) carpaccio but in reality, an obscure South American Fruit called the lulo. Another waiter then arrives with a large, very frozen bowl of what looks like shavings of cheese but which is actually frozen shavings of foie gras fat. He places a tablespoon of the shavings on top of each piece of fruit and we dive in. The fruit is very acidic, yet sweet, a little like kiwi but the segments are firmer and have a texture similar to oysters. What is going on here? An unknown fruit from another continent with frozen foie gras fat… Sounds disturbing and maybe even disgusting, but it can’t just be a random experiment. As I think about it, I realize that what I am actually eating is a classic combination of foie gras with a sweet acidic element. Think pate de foie gras with a glass of Sauternes reinvented. The cool fat slowly melts in your mouth and is then offset with the texture and flavour of the fruit. It is so strange that we giggle as we eat. Beyond imagination, yet once again rooted in gastronomic history. When we’re done, we’re not even sure what hit us!

And so while it may seem crazy we are only half way through….stay tuned for part 3 in the next week or so.