What does the popularity of culinary foam say about the types of food – and the kinds of chefs – we value?

When Geraldine DeRuiter wrote about her meal at “the worst Michelin starred restaurant, ever,” she didn’t expect to start a global controversy. The tasting menu she had at Bros, in Lecce, Italy, was a bizarre, avant garde dining experience, the pinnacle being the “Chef’s Kiss” dish, a plaster cast of a mouth with foam dripping out of it. What followed was a whole conversation online about the nature of food as art, the role of a chef, and the pretentiousness of fine dining. 

And as we dug in more, we started to see how the “Chef’s Kiss” was not just a ridiculous dish on a bizarre menu, but how foam was a metaphor for the flaws of fine dining and the toxicity of the “abusive genius” chef. 

You can find Geraldine (she/her):

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To read more about the international culinary incident:

• Geraldine’s original blog post and her follow up
• The story from Today with Floriano’s “Man on a Horse” response
• Of Mouth Molds and Michelin Stars: Chef Finds Fame After Epic Takedown: Panned by a prominent blogger, the Italian restaurant Bros’ and its celebrity chef became a global target for critics of pretentious cuisine. There was a good side for him.

The Reels put out by Bros: 

• “Limoniamo, Let’s Make Out”
• “Floriano Pellegrino in the Spotlight”
• “Strange Posters Around the City”

More about foam:

• The article from 2002 in which Ferran Adrià declares “foams are out” and announces that they are now making “air”
• Once Declared Passé, Foam Returns to the Restaurant Table: From a dragon-fruit cloud to aerated lobster bisque, chefs are breathing new life into the most clichéd of culinary techniques.
• Ferran Adrià, Master of Foam, Whips Up Dinner: First he created avant-garde cuisine. His next challenge: Getting you to make an affordable three-course meal…every night of the week