Sunday, December 6, 2009

Heston Blumenthal The scent & taste alchemist






Heston Blumenthal is a self taught British chef, owner of a 3 Michelin stars restaurant called The fat duck. Known for his creativity and skills to create culinary pieces of art, the has been accumulating compliments and awards from the most famous gastronomy critics all over the world.
+ Q Perfume Blog loves this chef because more than taste, he is committed to explore the sense of smell in a way that no other chef has ever done.
He works with chefs, perfumers and biochemists to create dishes that will play not only with your taste buds, but also with your memories and your emotions.
For last Christmas he created what we can call the most amazing Christmas dinner one can ever experience in his/her life.
In order to do so, he went on a journey inside his own memories of what Christmas meant to him, the images, the sounds, the tastes, and most of all, the scents and aromas that made this holiday so special to him.
He travelled to the far lands of Oman and Siberia.
He teamed up with Cristophe Laudamiel (IFF at that time) to create the perfect fragrance of one particular memory he had from his childhood.
It was by far, the most incredible dinner I have ever seen.
To us, lover of fragrance (if not obsessed), mandarine sprays coming from the nostrils, baby powder wafer, myrrh and frankincense served with food, leather, whiskey and tobacco smells coming from the center of the table to create the perfect atmosphere, the aroma of grilled chestnuts (my favorites) presented before tasting the dish, is simply something to take the breath away.
I know it is a year old video, and probably most of you living overseas have already seen it, but still, I think it is worth remembering it again this year.
So take your time, because the video is long (almost one hour) but do not miss it!!!
prepare yourself for this year, when he is going to serve ambergris in his Christmas TV special show in BBC. As he explained to the media, it is going to be the most expensive dish he has ever prepared (one kilo of ambergris costs ₤10,000).
We have been talking about the combination of gastronomy and perfumery, of gourmet notes in perfumery and how the two senses, taste and smell are connected (remember that at least 90% of what you taste it is actually the smell of it), but nothing can be more clear, more amazing and more interesting than Heston's style of expressing his art.



Click on the image to read about the chef
and learn more about the sense of taste

If you will google his name, you will find out a lot of criticism and articles saying bad things about the chef. All that crap, in my opinion, is the result of a lot of envy from his success and his skills. Don't pay attention to it. He is brilliant! Amazing! Exclusive and one in a million. A real genius.


Just one crazy detail: the myrrh, gold & frankincense dish could have been brought to guests with a cloud of Tolu (Ormonde Jayne). Although I presented my review together with a Chagal picture, I could have also presented it as the gifts given to baby Jesus. Since it is a fragrance with gold colored notes, resins, and a lot of love in the soul.
Would you agree with me Heston?

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