For me to go to a restaurant and eat something that is not only good, but totally new, is a double thrill. Double the enjoyment.
I am not a multimillionaire. I don't own a yacht or a Ferrari. I live in a 60-square- metre flat. My needs are simple.
Innovation, being avant garde, is always polemic.
It's very hard to be an innovator at the highest level in any discipline. For some chefs it's merely about combining ingredients, but that's something you can do with your eyes closed.
In a city, it's very hard to do a restaurant, an avant-garde-cuisine restaurant, where each year you need to change the whole menu.
Everywhere the sky is blue. There are a multitude of cuisines and dishes. I think of them as the languages and dialects of food.
Just to eat is a gift.
I don't worry about the things I can't change.
Risk is to do something that 99 percent of the time would be a failure.
I don't dream at night; life has given me the stuff I need to be able to dream during the day. I'm very lucky.
When you talk about avant-garde cuisine, the surprise factor is really important. For example, I love looking at blogs and the photos, but I'm not that keen on other people taking photos of my dishes.
I have a driver's licence, but the truth is that I hardly ever drive. I prefer to get around by taxi.
When I was a teenager, my idol was the Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff. He's the only person I've ever asked for an autograph.
There are many cultural prejudices. For instance, even though fresh fish is a regional staple, Catalans don't like sashimi.
I was 18 when I first started working at a restaurant. I was a dishwasher. I only got the job because I wanted to go to Ibiza for vacation, and washing dishes was the only job I could find.
Friends are really important, especially when you've had the successes that I've had. I've gone really far in my career, so they're the ones that keep you humble, keep your feet on the ground.
I don't read books regularly, because I'm always writing them. I've written 30 books, thousands of pages.
I cook more theoretically than I do practically. My job is creative, and in the kitchen, the biggest part of my creativity is theoretical.
Why not mix this and that? If soy goes well with fish, how come no one does beef carpaccio with soy? Why do we have such a taste and not another? It's all about culture. There is something, however, that I really don't like: bell peppers.
We never have business meals at El Bulli. If it's about business, you're probably not paying much attention to the food.
