Why Half Of Spain Hates Molecular Gastronomy

As I've mentioned before, food in Spain is some serious stuff. Fine wine and otherworldly food are Spain's lifeblood, and much of this is based around centuries of tradition and carefully cultivated cultural development. Many of Spain's chefs are traditionalists, foregoing food trends in order to stick it out for the long haul, subtly advancing their ancestors recipes one tiny step at a time so that their cuisine is no flash in the pan.

To be flashy and trend-pursuant is a mortal sin in a culture so populated by traditionalist chefs, which is why the most radical thing to happen, EVER, in Spanish cuisine, was to make everything smaller and serve it as tapas. The most radical, that is, until the introduction of molecular gastronomy into Spanish cuisine, beginning in the late 20th century.

The introduction of this new radical style of cooking solicited an immediate response, and as you can imagine, it was a pretty harsh one. The few practitioners were decried as taking the vibrancy out of cooking, replacing its virility and passion with the cold, sterile feel of a laboratory. These fears proved to be unfounded; I'll delve into why a few entries in the future. The important thing to note is that despite the humongous strides that molecular gastronomy has made, it is still quite far away from winning the hearts and minds of those deeply into the traditional nature of Spanish cuisine (read: half of Spain).