Image credit: Izarzugaza
The butcher shop, Izarzugaza, with three locations in Northern Spain, is making efforts to adopt modern technology while keeping their more than 100-year-old tradition alive: They have an online shop selling meat and prepared items, as well as customer-facing multilingual touchscreens in the shops. But what truly sets them apart is their meat vending machine outside the store in Mundaka.
“We had to provide a service when the shop closes,” Mikel Izarzugaza, the fourth generation owner, told El Mundo. So they acquired a refrigerated vending machine that uses miniature elevators and the products change seasonally: “In summer pasta salads, we prepare and pack, in winter tongue in sauce or meatballs, sausages and burgers as well.”
Ferran Adrià working at El Bulli in 1983 (image credit: El Bulli)
The construction of the unique “Gastronomic University” also known as the Basque Culinary Centre began a few weeks ago in San Sebastian, Spain. The university will be the first of its kind and is designed to look like a pile of stacked plates. Students will be encouraged to use scientific innovation to prepare the recipes of the future and will try to master the science of “molecular gastronomy” under the direction of Ferran Adria, owner of the famous restaurant El Bulli, and other well-known chefs. There are already many Michelin-decorated restaurants in the town and their chefs are more than likely to participate in helping with tuition costs and possibly teaching duties. Heston Blumenthal, the self-taught chef at the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, U.K., who has followed in the footsteps of Adria, will probably be a guest lecturer.