La cocina al desnudo

Santi Santamaria was one of the most renowned chefs in Spain and one of the first to earn three Michelin stars. This book is his bible and a vindication of a traditional cuisine that, today, is back in vogue. In 2008, the publication of La cocina al desnude was controversial, since its plea of love for traditional, homemade and Mediterranean cuisine was combined with a scathing attack on molecular cuisine and the industrialization of ingredients, which sparked a great debate. in haute cuisine. Santi Santamaria wondered if we were witnessing the decline of domestic cooking and the unstoppable decline of gastronomic culture, if the "MacDonaldization" of homes and large restaurants was irreversible, or even if we should feel proud of molecular-cuisine or techno-emotional- championed by Ferran Adrià and his cohort of followers. An atypical and suggestive book, without magical recipes, dotted with memories and personal and professional references, written outside the prevailing fashions and against cooking-shows by someone who spent his whole life glued to the stove and who, above all else,had an extraordinary love for Mediterranean cuisine. Naked cooking stimulated dialogue, opened a public debate on the future of our gastronomy and stirred the consciences of an anesthetized citizenry who, in many cases, and in the opinion of the author, seemed to have renounced quality and taste for food , because Santamaría never believed that the end justified the means, neither in the kitchen nor in life.