Appetite for Innovation: The Mobilization of Change and Creativity at elBulli Maria Pilar Opazo ...

419 Pages·2014·4.87 MB·English

Appetite for Innovation: The Mobilization of Change and Creativity at elBulli
Maria Pilar Opazo

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
2014
© 2014
Maria Pilar Opazo
All rights reserved
ABSTRACT
Appetite for Innovation: The Mobilization of Change and Creativity at elBulli
Maria Pilar Opazo

This dissertation uses an organizational approach to examine how new ideas are mobilized in
order to become radical innovations. I consider the case of elBulli, an avant-garde, three-
Michelin star restaurant that has pioneered the “molecular” or “experimental” cuisine movement
in the gastronomic field, to inductively study how innovation is made to work.
Based on ethnographic data collected over a period of 16-months in Spain and in the United
States, my research proposes that systematic and radical innovation is the result of concrete
practices and collective efforts that enable new ideas and epistemic practices to be recognized,
understood, and legitimated by the public. The research advances a new distinction in innovation
studies between new final products and conceptual innovations and proposes that this distinction
can contribute to clarify the dynamics behind the advancement of knowledge within a field.
Also, I argue that this distinction can serve as a basis for the future development of a general
framework of the different dimensions involved in the production of innovation.
Throughout the research, I draw comparisons with different fields such as religion, politics,
business, art and music to explore the potential applicability of the main insights obtained from
my case study to illuminate innovation processes in general.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures, Tables, and Graphs................................................................................................ ii
Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................ iv
Dedication…………......................................................................................................................vii
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................................ 19
Chapter 1: Context and Vision ..................................................................................................... 36
Chapter 2: From Chaos to Order: elBulli’s System of Continuous Innovation ........................... 72
Chapter 3: Diffusion and Institutionalization of Innovation ...................................................... 152
Chapter 4: The Bittersweet Taste of Relentless Innovation ....................................................... 239
Chapter 5: “Cooking Up” A New Organization ........................................................................ 296
Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 372
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 387
Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 398

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LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES, AND GRAPHS

Figures
1. Rotating Ferran Adrià’s “Pyramid of Creativity” .................................................................... 56
2. Cycle of Innovation Production at elBulli (Restaurant and Workshop) ................................ 101
3. elBulli’s Team Configuration (Restaurant and Workshop) ................................................... 115
4. elBulli’s Evolutionary Map .................................................................................................... 128
5. elBulli’s Creative Process ...................................................................................................... 144
6. Evolution of Innovations at elBulli ........................................................................................ 173
7. elBulli’s Apprentices around the World (Cumulative data from 1997 to 2011) ................... 222
8. Process of Acceptance of the elBulli restaurant’s tasting menu (1983-2011) ....................... 236
9. Mechanisms of order and control implemented at elBulli (1987-2011) ................................ 274
10. Configuration of Teams Project elBulli DNA ...................................................................... 324
11. Creative Process of elBulli Foundation ............................................................................... 344

Graphs
1. elBulli’s New Dishes (1987-2011) ........................................................................................ 148
2. elBulli’s Publications (1989-2011) ........................................................................................ 196
3. Evolution of the Composition of elBulli’s Staff .................................................................... 209
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4. The Evolution of Innovation at elBulli (1987-2011) ............................................................. 281

Tables
1. elBulli’s Creative Methods ............................................................................................. 138-140
2. Factors that explain the influence and impact of the elBulli restaurant ......................... 158-160
3. Visions of elBulli’s Future ............................................................................................. 365-366

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The path to completing this project was far from a solitary one. Many people have contributed to
this work by offering diverse and insightful ideas that have helped me move forward.
My mentors at Columbia University provided great inspiration and advice that shaped my
research all throughout. I am thankful to my advisor, Peter Bearman, for his generosity, sharp
ideas and careful guidance. People who visited me at my office were surprised to see three post-
its that I had next to my computer, and which guided my writing: “Have fun,” “Pick up flowers,”
“Think crazy and wild”! Three comments that, in fact, summarized Peter’s latest feedback. My
conversations with him offered both intellectual development and happiness throughout the
entire process of developing my thesis. I am also deeply indebted to Priscilla Ferguson, David
Stark and Diane Vaughan for their remarkable contributions from their different areas of
expertise; sociology of gastronomy and cultural studies, innovation studies, organizational
sociology and ethnographic methods. The “creative chaos” that emerged from my interactions
with Harrison White were also very important in shaping my work. I hope that my research can
reflect, at least in part, the valuable advice that I obtained from each one of them and the
privilege of having them as my mentors.
Moreover, since I was an undergraduate in Chile, I have been fortunate to work with Dario
Rodriguez. Later, as a graduate student, he not only read the very first (and quite unpolished)
versions of this thesis, but also gave me ideas that fostered my sociological imagination in ways
that I would have never expected. I am very proud to say that he continues to be my mentor until
this day.
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Friends and colleagues in New York and Barcelona made this project a better one by
providing substantive intellectual and practical support. Special thanks to Constanza Miranda for
writing with me, and to Rosemary McGunnigle-Gonzales for the countless phone conversations
that we shared about my work. Many thanks to Fabien Accominotti, Ifeoma Ajunwa, Larissa
Buchholz, Consuelo del Canto, Juan and Jean Cappello, Victor Corona, Alfonso Cruz, Adriana
Freitas, Daniel Fridman, Carmen Gloria Larenas, Federico Leighton, Anna Mitschele, Kristen
Murphy, Olivia Nicol, Diana del Olmo, Laia Sanchis, Trinidad Vidal and Anna Zamora for their
friendship and advice at different stages of my project. My foodies’ friends, Michael Nixon and
Naja Stamer, read earlier drafts of the chapters and gave me comments when I much needed
them. The help of Patricia Yagüe, Katie Kashkett and Deanna Villanueva significantly improved
my work by incorporating their computing, design and editorial skills into my project, for which
I am very grateful. Finally, my conversations with Dora Arenas during my coffee breaks in the
Sociology Department at Columbia provided much inspiration and joy to my otherwise lonely
days of writing.
In the final stages of my project I had the opportunity to be part of the Mellon Fellowship at
the Interdisciplinary Center of Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE), Columbia University.
I am grateful for the insight that I obtained from this group and, especially, from the support of
William McAllister, the group’s director. This research was supported by grant #C08505 from
the Technical University of Catalonia awarded by Telefonica Digital. I am extremely thankful to
Ramon Sangüesa and the team at Telefonica, Pablo Rodriguez, Oriol Lloret, Maria Jose Tome
and Lars Stalling for their continuous encouragement and insightful suggestions.
Graduate students often make jokes about how the further they move along in their research
projects, the more they lose connection with the real world and, especially, with their families. I
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am glad to say that my experience in developing my thesis was quite the opposite. My parents,
Eduardo Opazo and Maite Breton, and my sisters Magdalena and Maite, did not only read
successive earlier drafts, but also greatly contributed to my work by engaging in active
discussions about my ideas while they were still being cooked. My husband, Jose Zubizarreta,
was my companion in every step of this process, and my greatest source of inspiration and love.
Without his constant emotional and intellectual support, and that of our soon-to-be-born daughter
Amanda, this thesis would simply not have been possible. Last but not least, I am enormously
grateful to Ferran Adrià and the elBulli team, and also to each one of my respondents, for being
curious and generous enough to contribute to my research and, ultimately, to make it happen.

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To Jose and Amanda
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