The joy of good food is linked to the joy of good thinking. You live better when you think and you also eat better. Thus, with a simple but complicated equation, Innerarity and Aduriz struck up a conversation steeped in friendship, calm reflection and good taste as they discussed the hottest topics that concern us all. More than a hundred attendees sat at their table to delight the taste sprouts of the intellect, while the two of them, in their element, gave free rein to the art of a good conversation.

Their relationship goes back a long way, as in 2012 they published an excellent essay, Cocinar, comer, convivir (Cooking, Eating, Togetherness), (Destino), in which we could already see their intellectual chemistry. In fact, they created a menu based on this work, featuring such essential ingredients as tradition, friendship, technology and individual and collective identity. Many of the attendees agreed that the meeting of philosophy and cuisine was an enlightened after-dinner conversation, and with good reason.

For them, being and existing, is a vital attitude that depends on what we eat. Modifying the popular saying, Aduriz reminded us that we are not what we eat, we eat as we are. The chef at Mugaritz (two Michelin stars) continued to break down the phrase, adding that if one is ignorant and uninterested in anything in life, one will also be ignorant and uninterested in food. This aphorism takes us straight to the philosophy of Calderón de la Barca, who in the 17th century wrote that those who live without thinking cannot say that they are truly living. Everything is intimately and interconnectedly related: stomach, mind, soul. Innerarity reminded us of this again, giving us a knowing look and affirming that we are the only animals capable of expressing food as a source of refined pleasure and transforming it into a wonderful cultural subject.

The aperitif prepared by two masters of their art, Javier Escoriza (Olula) and Enrique del Río (Chilate), was also wonderful. They treated the attendees to a cocktail and an aperitif inspired by the philosophy of Mugaritz. If life is made up of unforgettable moments that nourish us, last Wednesday, 15th October, we can say that an unbreakable bridge was built between flavor and knowledge.