Review of The Sorcerer's Apprentices by Lisa Abend

I read this in two rounds, separated by at least a year. I think this was mostly because it wasn't what I expected when I first read it. What I expected originally was more Ferran Adrià, less about the stagiaires. Each chapter in the book covers a month and puts the focus on one or more of the stagiaires, their backgrounds and their motivation to work at El Bulli. At some point during the first round I got a bit too much random life stories so I put it away.

Then, earlier this year I watched The Bear, and I got fascinated by the craziness of life in a kitchen again, and picked up the book again. It is fascinating to see the amount, of what seems to be, mind-numbing, boring work the stagiaires are willing to do, for free no less. Whether it is cutting carrots, making lentils out of foam (?) or other extremely repetitive tasks that can take several hours every day for weeks.

However, this is also why I enjoyed the book on the second try. It was fascinating to see the restaurant through the lens of the stagiaires, while learning about their struggles. The process of El Bulli comes through here and there. There is even sessions for creativity. This is combined with pain-staking documentation, data collection and rigorous processes. "Though the menu will change, everything else will be exactly as it should be."