Ferran Adria on...

Friendship with Heston Blumenthal
"We see each other quite often. But that is not the question. The matter is that we have a good bond, probably because neither of us wanted to be a chef and neither of us probably thought where we would end up or how far we would go with what we did. And we are actually quite normal people and I suppose these factors have created this friendship."

Cooking at home
"I like to eat well, but I eat very simply. I like maybe cooking four or five small dishes. I have a very small kitchen at home (gestures a small galley kitchen). I don't sit down I cook and eat at the same time. I like eating freshly cooked things. I might eat some very fresh mozzarella, some boiled asparagus with a drop of oil, lots of fish, I eat pasta now and then. But when I'm cooking the pasta, I think: 'I don't want to get that many dishes dirty, so I'm very careful.' I like things to happen when I'm cooking. I don’t cook for more than half an hour. I cook very little. I'm hardly ever at home."

Being compared to Mozart or Picasso
"What do you want me to say? It's like asking me whether I like Naomi Campbell. Normally Naomi Campbell is not my female type, but just to name somebody. What I think of myself, I am becoming less and less interested. I'm interested in what people have to say. I may like it; others may disagree. If you ask which of all the compliments I have been given have shocked me the most, this would fall into that category. To think that one could have participated in creating new concepts and developing new things in food is incredible."

Jamie Oliver
"I'm very aware of Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver is probably doing much more in this sense [educating the public about diet] than any Government. It's a very important issue."

Trying a Tunnocks tea cake (supplied by The Independent)
"We have things like this in Spain. If I had to do a judgement of the day as a chef, it would be terrible: Is this water good or is it very good? Was it the best coffee? If you ask me what I think of that, it depends. After the little meal we had before, and it’s six in the afternoon, and you bring this, I would eat it. I would probably try to understand: is this the best brand [of tea cake]?

The Independent: "This is the most famous. It's not a cheap brand..."

He eats some more.

"It's not the best moment for me to be doing tasting because I'm quite full and that would be very harsh. I end up doing a tasting and evaluating and I think that would be very harsh. It's not a question of whether it's English or Spanish.

"Sometimes, I have a craving for tortilla sandwich and sometimes I don't want to have one. Outside the sweet world, I'm not a big fan of processed foods. Things like pies, they're not really good quality and they're not really trustworthy. I'm a bit suspicious. If I don't know where it's come from I might not eat it. I look after myself. I have big expectations and I'm a demanding person: I want quality.

"One day I might just skip all these rules and eat all kind of food. Ice cream, for example. You know those ice pops: I love them. I'm aware that they're just colouring and water. But I just love them. In this kind of world, there are things I like and there are things I don't like.

"You've got to have a craving. Now I'm not really in the mood. Sweets maybe. I don't believe in being so critical about snacks, things like that are also made in Spain."

Discovering new flavours
"In the Amazon there are probably more vegetables that we don't know compared to the ones we know in the western world.

"There is a lot that still has to be discovered. We have a person who works at El Bulli whose main job is to research and find new things. In the winter months he travels to fairs but we are also lucky when there is something new, everybody says: 'Let's take that to El Bulli.' Of 10, there is probably one that is interesting."