'Emotional' or 'Intellectual' Cuisine

Celeb chef Thomas Keller the wiz behind the infamous ‘French Laundry’ in the Napa Valley, ‘Bouchon’ also in California & ‘Per Se’ in new York, was asked recently about molecular gastronomy, a term that most of us associate with Ferran Adria’s style of decadently deconstructed food. Keller says the practice is nothing new since "changing the molecules in food" has been going on for centuries as part of basic cooking techniques. However what’s interesting is that he said it is useful to divide cooking into two categories: "emotional cuisine," which "touches you inside because you have memories associated with those flavor profiles," and "intellectual cuisine," which is closer to molecular gastronomy. Intellectual cuisine challenges your mind but can leave you confused because you have nothing similar in your memory to compare it with. Keller says without that all important reference point it can be difficult to decide whether you actually like what you are eating. So it seems once again there's just no accounting for taste.