Decades have passed since we saw a very young Andoni Luis Aduriz planted in the kitchen of Mugaritz (Errenteria) enraptured, observing roots and tubers with exotic names that the Brazilian chef Alex Atala had brought from the Amazon in his suitcase. Decades have passed since the time when the two shared drinks at parties with friends after those ceremonies for the presentation of the British list of the best restaurants in the world before London ceased to be the permanent venue for those nervous encounters through flower of skin before a dance of positions in the ranking from which Atala would be distancing himself.
Last week, a long time after those first contacts with the fascinating products that came from the other side of the world, and an eternity after a very young Atala caught the desire to create freely in Cala Montjoi, he landed in Valencia in full failures. He had been invited by his colleague Ricard Camarena, who encouraged him to exchange ideas and ingredients for something as simple or as complex as cooking together for several groups of lucky clients.
They had never met in front of a stove before, and those who were able to sit at the tables in Camarena’s restaurant watched the meeting between the two kitchens with enormous curiosity, asking them who had done what, as if that mattered, if it was difficult for them to understand the other’s products and if there had been a feeling between them and their kitchens or if they had managed to speak the same culinary language. The situation was reminiscent of those writers who are questioned by journalists about the intentions of the work that never crossed their minds before they began to write.
And yes, of course it went well despite the fact that each one had a pantry and a gastronomic memory. Both have traveled and keep intact their passion for the trade, curiosity and the ability to be surprised. Atala said that he was fascinated watching the fire and the noise of the Fallas from the heights. And when he arrived at Ricard Camarena’s kitchen, or when they went to the market together before, or when they were in the orchard, or when they approached the Albufera rice paddies, everything flowed.
From the meatiest and most delicate oranges he had tasted, he proposed to the Valencian man to make some nigiris in which the citrus would replace the rice and the fish would rest on top. The other saw him so convinced that he responded with an amen.
The menu they offered was a jam session, which is how the Valencian chef likes to cook. Attentive to seasonality and the right moment of maturation of the product at the right moment. Wide-eyed. As were those of Aduriz, the first time he had in his hands those enormous treasures of the Amazon. The rest remained in the memory of the diners, as an intersection between landscapes, cultures and two crazy spontaneity. There was artichoke with spiked honey, there was Brazilian sweet pepper and tucupi and many other things. Like the Amazonian heart of palm and Valencian margalló with truffle juice and seeds. And the diners realized that the exotic thing was not the heart of palm but the Valencian margalló, which they had never heard of. intersections.
