Top chefs dismiss Spain's claim to culinary crown

The claim that Spain has snatched France's culinary crown was quashed on Monday during a discussion between some of the UK's leading chefs at Gleneagles in Auchterarder, Scotland.

Speaking during a debate that formed part of the 21st birthday celebrations of the Roux Scholarship, scholars and judges of the annual contest agreed that Spanish chefs would never be regarded with the same culinary reference as their French counterparts.

The panellists - Andrew Fairlie, Michel Roux, David Nicholls, Gary Rhodes and current scholar Simon Hulstone, who recently returned from a stage at Martin Berasatagui's in Lasarte, northern Spain - felt Spain was currently basking in media attention, but interest would inevitably fade.

Hulstone said: "I don't think Spain is as modern as everybody thinks it is. It isn't just El Bulli and actually most of the Michelin-starred chefs in Spain are French-trained."

Scholarship founder Michel Roux said that 20 years ago "you couldn't eat a proper meal in Spain" and he agreed with Hulstone about the significance of the French influence on Spain's culinary stars.

The chefs agreed the industry needed trailblazers like Ferran Adria, chef patron of El Bulli, renowned for his molecular take on food, but said chefs of his ilk tended to be one-off geniuses.

Nicholls said: "There's no question that Ferran is enormously gifted and certainly gets you thinking. You need that spark to take food forward."

Scholarship co-founder Albert Roux added: "Spain is a country of great divide. There are two cuisines, Catalan and Basque. After that, that's it. Further south all you get is olive oil, paella and rice."

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 30 October - 5 November 2003