HOT: Ferran Adria, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank

"Food is a language, the most universal of all." So began the theme of Ferran Adria's discussion on the role of food as part of culture, tradition and history. His famed restaurant, El Bulli, receives two million requests for 8000 seats a year (I was sadly one of the rejected this year), and while people may not necessarily agree that it is the best restaurant in the world, it is definitely the most influential. In his kitchen/labroratory (though he decries the science behind many of his creations) he has developed a new language in haute cuisine- foams, jellies, alcohol sorbets, deconstructionism and the use of liquid nitrogen. His new 'alphabet' has allowed him to construct new 'phrases', then new 'sentences', until he revealed a mouth-watering video presentation his artfully designed and gasp-inducing dishes.