He began his career as a dishwasher, did military service in the kitchen and wound up as an apprentice at El Bulli, which is Catalan for small bulldog. Adria's approach to culinary lore is dogged as well. "I read everything I could. I became my own university."

Adria's recipe for innovation, he says, is "cold and methodical." Adria starts with "information, information, information" ч garnered by traveling, tasting and above all reading. He has an extensive gastronomic library installed in his new "laboratory workshop" in nearby Barcelona, and claims to have memorized thousands of tastes on his "psychological palate." He says, "What I hate most is monotony." He doesn't have to worry. Says superstar chef Paul Bocuse: "He's doing the most exciting things in our profession today."