Heston Blucenthal: “My main concern at this time is the relationship between food and mental health”

Blumenthal, 58, became famous with his ‘multisensory kitchen’ And as a television presenter, he got the Three Michelin starshe received all the large awards in the sector and created a small empire of restaurants, books and products with his name. For his experimental eagerness he was baptized as “the crazy scientist of British cuisine.” But a few months ago he announced that he had bipolar disorder, and that this diagnosis has been understood as never before.

Focused on its recovery, and how this new perspective will affect its message through gastronomy, the visionary British chef spoke exclusively with ABC gastronomy shortly before going on the stage of the congress held in Madrid to participate in the tribute to the ‘revolutionaries’ Spaniards who opened roads three decades ago, in parallel to their history:

What meaning did Ferran Adrià have for you then?

It was something that I had not experienced before, really memorable, and opened my eyes to more possibilities, to a new perspective of food and kitchen.

Because? For your way of thinking?

No, because when I was the first time I didn’t know him, so it was food that struck me. I think I wrote a letter, but it was so long ago … I remember that when I came here for the last time, 20 years ago, I was on stage and I was basically showing my entire concept of multisensory when I was granted the third Michelin star, so We had a big party that night, memorable. Madrid Fusion also offers a great platform for people to show their work and talk about it. Over the years I kept up to date with what Ferran was doing, his work, and Albert’s also has influenced the world of cuisine.

Now we know it was so.

They created a movement. I was hosted in Spain, Spain hugged me, before England. Probably for all that Adrià and his generation were doing, when in my country modern cuisine was French cuisine. Only now, when I look back, I realize that, as a group, we change the world of gastronomy. But I don’t think we realize at that time. At the beginning of the 2000 I think it was when the essence of all these changes occurred. And Spain was … I was going to say the main driving force, but it is not enough, Spain was the core of all that.

Was it a matter of thinking different, bravery or what?

Yes, all that, and for having understood the foundations, the bases. Only when you understand something you can break the rules. Before this revolution, everything revolved around food on the plate. When I talked about multisensoryity I referred to my connection with what is on the plate, not only with what is effectively in it. There is a whole sequence that goes from crop or harvest, food collection, their preparation, its placement, its service until it ends, in fact, with food. Many current chefs, which come from this movement, are dedicated to emotion and feelings. They use kitchen as a mechanism, as a tool, to generate emotions and feelings, things like adventure, discovery, joy. If I put the sound of the sea in headphones and the diners cried … I never thought that could happen, but the combination of how the dish looks, their flavor and sound transported them to childhood, and that’s why tears were Wonderful

That is the magic of his profession.

Yes. Those emotional moments. Connect things through food.

You also question things. Is this attitude present in your way of working?

Yeah.

What are you looking for now?

Thirty years later, my main objective is now the anniversary of The Fat Duck, so we go back to the beginning with the menu and reformulate those dishes. Only for this year. I am focused on this. In addition, approximately a year ago I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and I was hospitalized for two months. During the last seven or ten years he had been studying the importance of the intestine, of microbioma, how we have evolved as human beings … We have our own universe within our body. And now they are beginning to establish very, very, very strong connections between all that and mental health, for example between bipolar disorder and diet. What we eat and what we feel affects our microbiome. This is something that I am very involved now.

Aspect that is not yet common in the world of haute cuisine.

It is not. I started talking a little about it a few years ago, but in reality it is from my diagnosis when I have been investigating. Science tells us that what you eat affects your mood and feelings, and these in turn affect the way you process food. Therefore, if you feel anxious, angry or unhappy in some way, that food will not be so beneficial for you. It is a huge issue, my main concern at this time.

Will this concern change the Fat Duck menu in some way?

Yes, I want The Fat Duck to be influenced by that work.

It is a challenge.

It is. Questioning everything also means questioning myself. How I feel, how the food process, things like that too. But yes, it is a complicated issue.

It has five restaurants in total. How do you manage all?

Luckily, I have a very good team. I remember that someone once asked the famous Paul Bocuse, “Who cooks when you are not?” And he replied, “the same people who cook when I am.” That’s how it is.

However, in the sector the issue of human resources is not easy, there is a big problem to achieve qualified personnel.

Yes, in recent years, from the pandemic, this happens, also in Great Britain, where Brexit adds.

It is also a great star. Books, television, fame. How does all this carry after its recent diagnosis?

I don’t know, it’s a good question. I think in my case helps that I did not become a star of suddenly. It was not, say, as in Factor X, but that was growing and growing. Thus, little by little, I began to realize. My diagnosis led me to look a lot, now and in my past. Two years ago I would never have said that it was part of a group that changed the world of gastronomy. Now, looking back, I feel comfortable enough to say it.

You are someone made.

That’s how it is. My first paid job as a chef was in The Fat Duck.

And before he had many different jobs. How did he have the clear idea of ​​devoting himself to gastronomy and open his own restaurant?

Since teenager, since my parents took me to a restaurant with three Michelin stars in France. They had never been in such a place, or in one with a star even. They had never tried an oyster, or a lobster, or knew what a sufflé was. So I had this first experience in which I remember the noise of the crickets, the smell of lavender, the noise of the waiters’ feet stepping on the gravel or pouring sauces or cutting lamb legs on the table. Those glasses and plates, the cheese car. I felt Alicia in Wonderland, and decided that I wanted to be a chef. My experience there changed my life. So I began to train, to learn all the basic concepts of French cuisine, to cook and understand the science of cuisine at the same time. I bought the cheapest place, it was all that I could afford. It is next to the road. I have no mountains, neither sea, nor lavender as in Provence. Now I realize that this was what prompted me to incorporate the sounds, smells and images to food, the need to recreate that atmosphere.

Maybe also the emotions of their parents …

Absolutely. That is transmitted as a virus. If they had argued with the waiter, it would have been different, but see their expression of astonishment …

In addition to multisensory cuisine, he stood out for the molecular. What work does it feel more proud?

Of the multisensory aspect, because at that time, in the year 2000, the world of neuroscience focused more on how one sense affects the other, not in everything, in the relationship between everything, as I raised. I guess that was my greatest achievement. By the way, with molecular gastronomy I did not agree with the term. I got to make a statement about it. Now, that I have discovered, only six months ago, that the meaning of gastronomy is the search, supply, preparation and consumption of good food, which could be a sandwich, I think that’s all what is it. Molecular cuisine simply focuses on depth, on details, something that was not done before. I think that is something else that made that movement and, once again, Ferran was fundamental in that.