Towards the end of Goya: The Witches and Old Women Album, there is a drawing of a poor old woman, confused and terrified, legs up in the air, tumbling down a flight of stairs. The title of this work is Showing off? Remember your age. Goya was a funny man.
It is no coincidence that London’s Somerset House should have chosen the figure of Ferran Adrià to define “The Art of Food”. But we do have to ask ourselves who really chose whom. Two years after closing elBulli, Adrià – our world famous icon of gastronomy – is still an international benchmark of culinary creativity and research, whilst Somerset house, with its spectacular neo-classical building in the heart of London has attracted over 2.5 million visitors every year since its opening in 2000. It’s a perfect partnership which is joined by Estrella Damm and the Instituto Ramón Llull, an organisation internationally recognised for promoting Catalan language and culture.