Styles and art of Spanish chefs

Have you seen the cooking shows on our channels? Have you stopped by the gastronomy section of any bookstore? Then you must have noticed the number of famous Spanish chefs there are. Perhaps you've thought, “but how many ways are there to make a paella?”. Well... let's just say that each chef is, at heart, an artist who is distinguished from the others by their style. We are going to tell you about the most well-known ones.

• Karlos Arguiñano: we begin with the most media-savvy one. This Basque chef is perhaps the most famous in Spain due to his cooking shows. He is distinguished by having a close and homemade style: ingredients that can be easily found in any market, simple preparations, and casual presentations are his great values. He is also famous for his bad jokes... but that's another story.
• Ferran Adrià: he might be more appreciated outside of Spain than within. The most international of our chefs is regarded as a "scientist" of the kitchen due to his precise, aseptic, almost laboratory-like preparations. He is likewise a prominent supporter of "molecular cuisine" with a curious fixation on textures. Have you heard of the "liquid olive" or the "spherification of green tea"?
• Abraham García: he is the chef of one of the best restaurants in Spain. He is a self-made scholarly cook. His production is based on the use of game meats and countryside products, which makes his style traditional and deliberate, almost ceremonious. Watching his cooking show is like attending a class by an endearing, absent-minded sage.
• José Andrés: a Spanish chef who has triumphed in the United States. Friendly like Arguiñano and "studious" like García, he is a proponent of modernizing the traditional Spanish recipe book. However, for many, his style has become "Americanized." By the way, did you know he is the culinary consultant for the television series “Hannibal”?
• Falsarius: this is a very peculiar case. Although it is known that Falsarius is Spanish, his true identity is unknown. We would venture to say he is something like the vigilante from "V for Vendetta" because he goes masked and his interventions are almost clandestine (he doesn't appear on TV but on his YouTube channel). His idea is that we can make refined dishes worthy of haute cuisine based on ingredients like canned goods or pre-cooked meals. His books are a great success.
• Carme Ruscalleda: this chef is currently one of the great defenders of the modernization of traditional Catalan gastronomy. This involves everything from the reworking of certain processes to the introduction of unexpected ingredients like jellyfish meat. Far from being eccentric, she is one of the most sincere and simple cooks in our country. Her recipe books are even poetic.

And these are just a few. There are many chefs with their own particular characters that we invite you to discover. We know that some of them run quite expensive restaurants. But well, that's what books and YouTube videos are for.