Cooking with flowers blooms under master chef (2)

At 36, the chef has been cooking since he was 18 years old, and working as a chef since 2000. He worked in 36 restaurants in nine cities in Spain before opening his own restaurant in the small town of Aranjuez, south of Madrid. The restaurant named after him, Rodrigo de la Calle Restaurant, got one Michelin star in 2011.
In 2000, Rodrigo de la Calle met Santiago Orts, a botanist, when he worked in La Taula del Hotel Milenio restaurant in Elche, a small town in east Spain. Since then he invented “gastrobotany”.

He said he feels lucky because as the whole world is looking to vegetable dishes, his restaurant specializes in that.

Rodrigo said two great chefs in Spain he worked with influenced him the most. One of them is Andoni L. Aduriz, whose restaurant, Mugaritz, has two Michelin stars. Andoni uses only herbs, flowers and vegetables. The other influential chef is Martin Berasategui, whose restaurant has three Michelin stars. Berasategui uses traditional foodstuff to prepare creative dishes.

The chef himself is not a vegetarian and does not think he will become one. But he eats just a small amount of meat and fish. Although he would like to concentrate on vegetable dishes, it would make it difficult for his restaurant to survive in its town of 25,000 residents.

Rodrigo de la Calle believes the guests can tell their chef’s mood through the food. When he is not happy, guests will feel sad. When the chef’s happy, customers will be happy, too. The emotion can infuse itself in food. And guests are able to tell.

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