The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season at El Bulli
Lisa Abend
The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season at El Bulli
Arguably the most famous restaurant in the world, 'el Bulli' in Catalonia has attained a near-mythic reputation for culinary wizardry. But what actually goes on behind the scenes? What is the daily reality of life in the world's greatest kitchen? The Sorcerer's Apprentices tells first-hand the story of a young chef enrolled in the restaurant's legendary training course. It shows her struggle to adapt to the culture shock of el Bulli, how she and the other apprentices learn to push themselves and the limits of their culinary abilities, how they adjust to a style of cooking that is creative in the extreme and how they deal with the pressures of performing at the highest level night after night.
3.4 out of 5 based on 5 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Non-fiction |
| Genre |
Food & Drink |
| Format |
Hardback |
| Pages |
304 |
| RRP |
£18.99 |
| Date of Publication |
April 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-0857201560 |
| Publisher |
Simon & Schuster |
| |
Arguably the most famous restaurant in the world, 'el Bulli' in Catalonia has attained a near-mythic reputation for culinary wizardry. But what actually goes on behind the scenes? What is the daily reality of life in the world's greatest kitchen? The Sorcerer's Apprentices tells first-hand the story of a young chef enrolled in the restaurant's legendary training course. It shows her struggle to adapt to the culture shock of el Bulli, how she and the other apprentices learn to push themselves and the limits of their culinary abilities, how they adjust to a style of cooking that is creative in the extreme and how they deal with the pressures of performing at the highest level night after night.
Reviews
The Independent
Christopher Hirst
“Vivid and enthralling … Oddly for such an outstanding food book, it does not induce hunger, because Adrià's contrivances are far from food as we normally know it.”
22/04/2011
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The Independent on Sunday
Robert Epstein
“… a terrific read. And because it's just as interested in the people as the recipes, it's fascinating whether you're a foodie or not.”
15/05/2011
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The Financial Times
Carl Wilkinson
“This brilliantly observed book reveals life at the bottom of the food chain in the finest restaurant on the planet.”
11/04/2011
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Times Literary Supplement
Bee Wilson
“Abend’s group biography is gripping in the way that reality television is gripping; it could equally well be about stagiaires for the European Parliament in Brussels or legal stagiaires in Paris; the food, though she describes it with great feeling and precision, is almost incidental.”
11/05/2011
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The Observer
Rachel Cooke
“Turning the story of El Bulli from a magazine profile into a book is a tricky task, particularly if you're not going to join the strange quadrille that is performed nightly in its open kitchen yourself (and she is no Bill Buford). Her approach, then, is to tell the reader everything. I mean everything. And while some of this is fascinating — the revelation that El Bulli's highly qualified apprentices are made to wash the rocks that surround the car park by hand at the start of every season is like something out of Kafka — much of it is tedious.”
10/04/2011
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