Do you believe that it would be better for the customer to have this information? Sometimes, yes, in other cases, certainly not. Personally, I must confess that I love tasting what the waiter has just brought out of the kitchen. But, getting back to the point, what I cannot deny is that when you go to a restaurant and they put a dish in front of you, you should not try to decipher how they have prepared it. It is clear that a process surrounds it. First, looking at it, you imagine what lies behind it... And if that is not enough, you study the texture or the flavour. But if none of these things prick your imagination you eat it like any other dish. When something stirs your curiosity, the machinery in your head starts to whir. Sometimes, a good dish inspires ideas for other new dishes. But you eat every day. Do you ever manage to disconnect from this culinary sensitivity? No, absolutely not. In this profession, you don’t ever disconnect. Never. Oh well! Nobody said that it was going to be easy. Which of the main flavours most seduces you? Acidity, without hesitation. Because acidity gives meaning to almost everything. It is the point of balance between all the other flavours. Properly understood, well executed, well compensated, it is essential. I heard that you never cook at home. How then do you transmit your love of food to your children? I never cook, no, it’s true, but every day I try to teach my children not to have any prejudices about food, to always try new things so that they remember new flavours and textures. I don’t cook myself but I do supervise what is cooked at home. Normally, we have a person who cooks especially for them. I always prepare my own food. I have to confess that if after work I don’t even fry an egg it’s because I am too used to the professional kitchen. At home, without the appropriate tools, I am very limited and it stresses me out. What is the secret to encouraging children to try everything? It is necessary to begin when they are very small and do not have the capacity to choose. Since my son was a baby, we have always given him everything to try. Now he is six years old and he loves spicy food and eats all kinds of green leaves. It is a long process and with various stages; suddenly, he stops eating things that he ate before and vice versa. Do you take food or ingredients home that are left over from the restaurant? Sometimes, especially things that I know they like. But it is not something that I do often. As a child, was there food that you did not eat? Yes, and there still is! Offal, like tripe or kidneys... I am incapable! I also find the very iodised flavours of sea urchin or ortiguilla, a kind of anemone, very difficult. But do you use any of these ingredients in your kitchen? No. What I can’t eat, I can’t cook. I can’t resist asking if you have ever had a tummy ache. Ha ha! The truth is no, I have a steel stomach. Tell us an easy recipe for home cooking Mmm…Like my son, my tastes change, at the moment I’m eating a lot of vegetables. When you have guests, what do you cook? Normally, I go for top quality raw ingredients. I buy the best tomatoes and season them before serving; or a good cut of meat, grilled and seasoned. I don’t worry too much about it, because in the end when you invite someone to your home it is for their company not to spend the evening cooking.
Do people invite you for dinner at their houses often? Ha! Never! It would be hard work. Is there a dish that reminds you of your childhood? The creamy rice my grandmother or my mother used to make. How was your first experience having a restaurant? I started in the first year by reinterpreting traditional recipes. Then, I realized that I was limiting myself. I wanted to try new things. Is there any country in the world that has surprised you recently with its cuisine? Mexico is incredible! Mexican cuisine presents endless possibilities, and is very little known outside the country. They have a huge variety of produce and use it in very unusual ways. Of course, I love Asian food. In fact, I’m about to go to Vietnam and Cambodia. I love of their cuisine and, when I’m there, in the markets, I try to eat on the street, investigate. The truth is that I tend to have local people to guide me so I don’t end up getting lost. When you return, do you use what you have found abroad in your restaurant? Yes, of course, but by adapting those recipes to our culture and our possibilities, obviously. For example, here we make a curry that no Thai cook would accept. Would you cook for a school? Why not? But I would do it in a playful way, not commercially. I would love to cook them something surprising. For example, a menu full of things that children don’t normally eat. The challenge would be that they all left empty plates. I suppose that I would play with the presentation of the ingredients and also that I would use them in different way. If, after reading this interview, we have left you wanting to try Ricard Camarena’s cooking, you have three options, all of them in Valencia: - Central Bar, inside the city’s Central Market. - Canalla Bistro, C / Maestro José Serrano, 5. - Ricard Camarena Restaurant. C / Dr. Sumsi, 4.