• The facilities allow new culinary technologies to be developed, equipment to be validated and quality training to be carried out.
• The three organisations have renewed their framework agreement in a bid to drive forward the science-gastronomy line.

Derio, Basque Country. 15 November, 2011). AZTI-Tecnalia -the R+D Centre specialising in marine and foodstuff research-, Mugaritz, and the Fagor Group with its De Dietrich domestic appliances have today presented their experimental kitchen.These are modern facilities that bring together the most innovative equipment to drive forward the science and gastronomy line, to develop trends in new culinary technologies, to design new domestic appliances, to validate new equipment and undertake training at the highest level for the catering sector and the food industry This space being presented today and located at the headquarters of the AZTI-Tecnalia R+D Centre in Derio (Bizkaia, Basque Country) was started up in 2008 and today is showing us some of its projects that highlight the firm commitment of the three organisations to be in the front line of research applied to gastronomy and food.

The experimental kitchen has been thought up as a true laboratory of gastronomy and domestic appliance design, where chefs, scientists and technologists interact in a working atmosphere marked by creativity and a keenness to innovate. This is how it was described by the CEO of AZTI-Tecnalia Rogelio Pozo, the Mugaritz chef Andoni Luis Aduriz, and the person responsible for the De Dietrich brand Ander Terradillos, who have signed and sealed the renewal of the collaboration agreement established four years ago by the three organisations.

At the facilities covering 150 square metres are innovative elements in cooking, like full-surface induction surfaces, vacuum cooking technologies, etc. Training is another of the cornerstones of the project, so the experimental kitchen has two classrooms capable of seating 20 people each and are the ideal place for running specialisation courses, giving demonstrations and training top chefs. The space has advanced audiovisual equipment allowing TV programmes to be recorded and broadcast and also enabling what is going on in the kitchen to be followed live inside the training classrooms. The Zorrozua Asociados Studio has been involved in their design and execution.

Within the framework of this project, Mugaritz has incorporated all the knowledge on haute cuisine/gastronomy developed and generated on the basis of its experience, study and interpretation of various culinary products and techniques; the Fagor Group has supplied the avant-garde De Dietrich domestic appliances; and AZTI-Tecnalia is responsible for foodstuff innovation and new technologies applied to the foodstuffs industry. Fresh proposals and solutions for the food industry have emerged and will continue to emerge out of this interaction between science, industry and haute cuisine: products of great culinary quality, technologies adapted to the real needs of the kitchen, and specific training.

Ideal location

One of the great advantages of the experimental kitchen is its location inside the Foodstuff Research Unit of AZTI-Tecnalia in the Technology Park of Bizkaia, which enables it to share human and technological resources specialising in food. From the kitchen itself it is possible to work with the pilot plant on the premises, a space that has the necessary tools to reproduce foodstuff production processes on a pre-industrial scale, and also develop new foodstuffs and validate new and emerging technologies, not forgetting the sensory and nutritional quality of the new gastronomic proposals.

The kitchen is also an additional element that contributes towards maintaining and fostering the Basque Country's leadership in haute cuisine. This leadership involves being able to avail oneself of new equipment and technologies that generate innovation in this sphere, from the culinary and technical point of view. This last aspect is also of great interest, since the experimental kitchen can be used to try out and validate new domestic appliances and equipment that have yet to be marketed, but which are nevertheless set to become a component of kitchens -both domestic and professional- within a period of five to ten years.

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