GASTRONOMY: How Tradition and Innovation Merge to Make Eye-Catching Cuisine Written by Audrey Jaber Photos by Joshua Enzolaia
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oconut caviar, edamame in the shape of a single-cell organism and a white chocolate sponge cake that resembles a planet floating through the cosmos: these are the types of dishes that you can expect from chef and gastronomist Joshua Enzolaia. Enzolaia has always had an interest in cooking. He spent his childhood in A Coruña, Spain, cooking with his mother and grandmother, before discovering his passion for gastronomy, a study which focuses on the relationship between food and culture, combined with the art of preparing and serving appetizing dishes. “Gastronomy is the way I express my feelings and emotions to people through a plate,” Enzolaia explains. “My goal when I cook is that the diner can get to feel what I have felt when cooking that dish. The most important thing is to be able to transmit emotions.” Enzolaia fuses his Spanish roots with foods traditional in the Netherlands, where he has lived for the last five years. “My food is based on starting from traditional cuisine, and transforming it by merging various cultures and techniques without losing the essence of the product,” Enzolaia says. Despite the traditional base of his food, the dishes that Enzolaia makes today are far from conventional. From spherification and gelification to flash freezing and emulsification, many of the techniques that Enzolaia favors sound straight out of a science fiction novel. Who knew that hazelnut could be transformed into caviar spheres or that beets are capable of becoming a gel, powder and foam? “I like to use chemical processes in the food to change the texture,” Enzolaia notes. “I always want to make new experiences for the diners.” He certainly
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