Ferran Adrià announces plans to close El Bulli

The chef, who is known for daring experimentation and who is collaborating with Harvard scientists, says he will close his restaurant and instead devote his time and money to a culinary academy.

Celebrated chef Ferran Adrià mingles cooking and science at elBulli, his restaurant near Barcelona.
Ferran Adrià

Ferran Adrià, who visited Harvard in December 2008 to give a lecture on cooking and creativity (view video) and to establish a collaboration with Harvard scientists, said last week that he plans to close El Bulli, his renowned and exclusive restaurant near Barcelona, at the end of 2011. (The Harvard collaboration will continue despite this news, a School of Engineering and Applied Sciences spokesman confirmed this week.)

Adrià told the New York Times that he had been losing money on operating his restaurant, where he has been head chef since 1985. Over the years, he has become increasingly interested in experimental cooking that veers into science; in the Harvard collaboration, he said he hoped interacting with chemists and physicists would help him tinker with texture and temperature (for instance, he aspired to create an ice cream that could be served hot, yet in solid form). The Times reported last week that he and his El Bulli collaborators planned to open a culinary academy. (A few days later, Time magazine published an interview in which Adrià clarifed that the new model would be more think tank than cooking school, and said El Bulli may reopen, on a schedule yet to be determined, for tastings of creations from the chefs in residence as visiting fellows.)

Related topics

You might also like

What of the Humble Pencil?

Review: At the Harvard Art Museums’ new exhibit, drawing takes center stage

Harvard Research Funding Will Resume, Government Signals

Notices of grant reinstatements follow a court ruling, but the Trump administration could still appeal. 

At Harvard College Convocation, an Emphasis on Open-Mindedness

Garber, other leaders sidestep politics but welcome international students.

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Is the Constitution Broken?

Harvard legal scholars debate the state of our founding national document.

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?

Explore More From Current Issue

Student walking under bright stage lights shaped like smartphones displaying social media apps.

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?

Illustration of scientists injecting large syringe with mitochondria into human heart.

Do Mitochondria Hold the Power to Heal?

From Alzheimer’s to cancer, this tiny organelle might expand treatment options.