Alinea by Grant Achatz

I went to the Manila International Bookfair, and adopted a new baby that is keeping me up most nights:

It wagged its tail and picked me. It was the only one of its kind - I didn't see it at the other booths and it seemed to be the only copy left in the National Bookstore stall. So. This is the best P1,684 ($35.59) I've ever spent! I feel it's quite underpriced (but shhh, don't tell Nanay) - even at the original price of P2,105 ($44.49) sans the 20% discount, that's still cheap for a 400+-page, deluxe edition cookbook.

I don''t plan on replicating the recipes at home any time soon. Some of the recipes actually look doable, while others look too complex in terms of the complexity of methods or exoticness of ingredients used. Where does one source microchives in the Philippines, for example? And good luck, LL, cobbling together a sous vide cooker in your bare-essentials dwelling.

I bought it more for inspiration, to channel the spirit of Grant Achatz's innovativeness and food philosophy in my cooking, and to use his food presentation styles - "plating" would be a misnomer, since he often does not serve his food on plates - to inspire mine.

Who is Achatz? I first came across him while looking up molecular gastronomy, stumbling upon this excellent article on his battle with tongue cancer. A promising young chef is threatened with being struck down by a terminal illness, which, if he survived it, also included the very real possibility of the permanent impairment or loss of his sense of taste - that had to be one of the most richly ironic jokes the universe could ever play, and I've been fascinated ever since.

More than the drama of his illness however, it was his philosophy towards food that drew me in. Far more eloquent commentary has been written about this, so I'll just say that what struck me the most was his affinity for the avant garde, and his attempts to challenge old notions of dining out as a relaxing, laid-back activity. From Alinea's disorienting hallway to his custom of serving food that makes guests squirm, Achatz actually wants to make diners feel uncomfortable about what they're eating, to provoke thought and elicit emotion.

For more about the Alinea cookbook, visit Alinea Mosaic, the companion site.