2005

EXCELLENT CULINARY ART

Ferran Adrià, ***El Bulli, Roses

Ferran Adrià is among the most discussed European chefs of the present day. He was born on 14 May 1962 in Santa Eulália, Barcelona province. His hobby is football. He started training in administration in order to study business economics, but he abandoned the training and got a job washing dishes in the small hotel Playafels. While serving in the military he worked as head chef of the canteen. After that he worked as a chef in renowned restaurants in Spain and France, and finally as head chef of the restaurant “el Bulli” on the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona. For months Ferran Adrià experiments with new taste combinations in his kitchen, which he calls a “laboratory”.

Until the present day Ferran Adrià has received numerous distinctions, including three Michelin stars.

THE CULTURAL TOPIC OF EATING IN LITERATURE, SCIENCE AND MEDIA

Günter Grass, Lübeck

Günter Grass is the only German author of the present day who has repeatedly and continuously made the cultural topic of eating a preferred subject of his artistic work in numerous texts and drawings. From “The Tin Drum” to “The Flounder” to poems like “Im Ei” and “Die Schweinekopfsülze” and many etchings, Grass has made apparent the anthropological, communicative and symbolic significance of eating in the Academy’s terms, both in establishing culture(s) as well as in enhancing understanding among people and in the life of the individual.

As well, in Günter Grass’s oeuvre the figures of the chef and particularly the female cook play an outstanding role as founders of culture, precisely in the Academy’s terms.

Grass has untiringly made a theme of the precondition of all culinary arts, namely the victory over hunger in the world. In his acceptance speech upon being awarded the Nobel Prize he summarises the continuing relevance of this causal aspect of all culinary arts: “This topic has remained to us … there will be tales to tell of it in the future.”

In his letter dated 2 May 2005 answering the invitation to accept the Academy Award Günter Grass wrote to the president of the Academy: “I congratulate you on the idea of founding an academy for the culinary arts.” The Academy in turn congratulates Günter Grass on his outstanding accomplishment and is proud to be able to count him among their award winners.

INNOVATION-YOUNG CHEFS AND SUPPORTING THE YOUNGER GENERATION

Roland Trettl, Restaurant Ikarus, Hangar-7, Salzburg

Roland Trettl, born on 3 July 1971 in Bolzano, Italy, was trained at the Parkhotel Holzner in Bolzano, and later at the restaurants “Aubergine” (*** Michelin stars) and “Tantris” (** Michelin stars) in Munich, among other institutions. Thereafter, Roland Trettl worked as head chef in the “Ca’s Puers” restaurant on Majorca and as a trainer at the “Marine Terrace” restaurant in Tokyo (Japan).

Since May 2003 Roland Trettl has been head chef at the restaurant “Ikarus” at “Hangar-7”, Salzburg.