When greeting us, the first thing François Chartier refers to is some grape-shaped balloons behind him: “It smells like rubber,” he says. And in doing so, he demonstrates that his world is not seen with the eyes, but with the nose.
Chartier is Canadian and is considered the world’s leading aroma specialist, but he is not involved in cooking or wine in the traditional sense: his field is aromatic genetics, a science that combines unthinkable ingredients simply because they share dominant molecules. And he defends it with the same confidence with which he maintains that the best pairing for Parmesan cheese is coffee.
Chartier, who has lived in Barcelona since 2016, is in Madrid for Madrid Fusión, where today he gave a talk in the form of a tasting. His presence does not go unnoticed: when he talks about aromas, his tone quickens, his eyes light up, and recipes become sensory equations. The inventor of molecular sommeliery —a discipline that combines science, taste, and emotion—Chartier collaborates with renowned chefs such as Ferran Adrià, Andoni Aduriz, and the Torres brothers, and has developed a line of artisanal sakes in Japan with the Tanaka Shuzo distillery.
Madrid smells of white stone, Barcelona of jasmine
Beyond kitchens and laboratories, Chartier observes cities as if they were olfactory landscapes. And Madrid, he says, has an aroma of talc and minerality. “For me, Madrid is a man; it smells of white stone, something dry and polished, almost architectural.” Barcelona, on the other hand, is a woman, “jasmine and orange blossom, with an animal touch,” and this is noticeable, according to him, in the air you breathe on every walk through its streets.
Aromas that evoke, ingredients that narrate
Chartier argues that cooking can also be memory. “A glass of wine can take you back to your grandmother’s rose garden,” he says, recalling his childhood. And it’s not a metaphor: the compounds that produce certain smells are imprinted on the brain like photographs. His best-known book, Papilles et Molécules(Taste Buds and Molecules), is a culinary bible that explores these invisible connections between flavors, emotions, and memories.