Is pastry an art?
In so good.. magazine #36, we don't intend to answer a question that has been generating debate for decades. But through the contents of this issue, we can demonstrate that when talent, technique, and sensitivity come together, pastry is capable of moving us just as much as any other artistic discipline.
Some covers are a statement of intent. The cover of so good.. magazine #36 is one of them. At first glance, the reader might think they are looking at a contemporary work of art. But a few seconds of reflection are enough to reveal that we are actually looking at a creation with which Dinara Kasko establishes a fascinating dialogue between pastry and art. A work that perfectly encapsulates the spirit of this issue: pastry as an artistic expression.
If we review the contents, rarely has an issue of so good... resembled an art gallery so much, considering that art is not solely about creating. It also involves reinterpreting the past, researching new techniques, expressing a unique identity, and evoking emotion. All of this is precisely what the protagonists of this issue seek and achieve. Aware of the importance of legacy in any artistic discipline, for the first time in the history of so good..., we wanted to pay tribute to one of the greats of our profession: MOF Jean-Michel Perruchon, who has just announced his retirement.
We not only spoke with this essential figure in contemporary pastry and published one last, previously unseen creation, but we also brought together some of the biggest names in French pastry—Jonathan Mougel, Christophe Morel, Arnaud Larher, Julien Alvarez, and Stéphane Glacier—to celebrate the legacy of a master who has inspired several generations of professionals. Art, too, knows how to reinvent itself.
Dinara Kasko has not only graced the cover of so good.. magazine #36, but has also reinterpreted her iconic Bubbles cake, a creation celebrating its 10th anniversary that forever changed the way we understand three-dimensional design in pastry. That same artistic sensibility runs throughout the rest of the issue. It's present in the almost sculptural elegance of Pablo Gicquel's individual desserts; in the desserts Aitor Zabala designs for Somni, where each creation becomes an experience; in Attila Meinhart's reinterpretation of classics like Opera and Black Forest cakes; in Yuri Cestari's research into cocoa paste as a new creative tool; in the way Kohei Ogata transforms classic recipes into entirely new concepts; in Yohan Dutron's philosophy, which demonstrates that simplification is also an act of creation; and in Albert Daví and Raúl Bernal's championing the color black as an expressive language.
Or in the way Emily Roux constructs her own identity while remaining in dialogue with her family's extraordinary culinary legacy. But art also springs from identity, landscape, and memory.
There we find the sensitivity with which Marco Sforza interprets Tuscany from Borgo Santo Pietro, Emily Thompson's work to recover native corn varieties in Colorado, Paweł Ignaciuk's connection to his surroundings and the seasons, Pierre Marcolini's ever-stimulating reflections on the craft, or the journey that the Relais Desserts collective takes through Antoni Gaudí's Barcelona, demonstrating that inspiration can be found in an architectural work as much as in an ingredient, a technique, or a landscape.
