This story is crazy. It is about Chef Grant Aschatz of Alinea in Chicago, who was diagnosed with Stage IV tongue cancer several years back. He was faced with two choices- have his tongue removed or go through aggressive chemotherapy with the risk of losing all sense of taste. He went with the latter and STILL kept on cooking, creating new flavors and strange combinations with no sense of taste- relying on his sense of smell and putting all of his faith in his sous chef.
He is regarded as one of the best molecular gastronomists this side of Ferran Adria`, a distinction he is quick to dismiss. For him, the idea of his food is about evoking emotion rather than creating a "science project". "He mentioned that some diners cry during a meal at Alinea, brought back to their childhoods by the combinations of flavors and smells. The meal I had, Achatz reminded me, included liquefied hay in one of the soup dishes. Achatz hoped that the subtle taste would summon diners’ memories of long-ago hayrides. A goose dish on the Winter, 2006, menu came with a ramekin of orange peel, nutmeg, allspice, sage, and goose fat. The ramekin, which was heated, was meant to give off the smell that comes from opening the oven door on Christmas Day.
When asked what it is like to cook, be able to eat, and not be able to taste anything, he, "... put down his container of Lidocaine, and placed his hands over his eyes—it was like being blind. He explained, “You make yourself a vanilla milkshake. Grab some Häagen-Dazs vanilla, add whole milk. You think you know what it’s going to taste like, and it tastes like nothing. All you get is thick texture. You get vanilla because you can smell it, but there’s no sweetness. It’s bizarre.”
He just won the James Beard Award (top honors) for Outstanding Chef. Pretty Cool. The article is long but it's a great read if you have the time.
via NY Mag
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