Look at this picture of a monkey eating a banana. Is this cooking?” asks my tour guide, Polini, totally deadpan. It might seem like a strange question, but I’m at the elBulli 1846 Museum, dedicated to the boundary-pushing, three-Michelin-starred elBulli restaurant that stood here for 47 years. We’re on the east coast of Spain’s wild Costa Brava. This restaurant, responsible for redefining fine dining, was so revered that it was voted “best restaurant in the world” five times by the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards before it closed in 2011.
I’m quietly, and philosophically, contemplating the question, as I know food isn’t just food here. I consider the act of finding a banana, sitting down, peeling, eating and enjoying it. Though there’s no heat involved, which we usually associate with cooking, I nonchalantly say “yes, why not?”, hoping my abstract approach prevails. Abruptly, the American man behind me, who just moments ago eagerly asked to join our tour, sternly snaps, “No”. Unsurprisingly, he soon distances himself.
