Embarking on a Eureka Moment

Innovation can sometimes come from the most-unlikely places. That's one reason why product designers should have a healthy appetite for adventure and information.

The true spark of invention rarely comes from straightforward, dedicated brainstorming on a given subject or experimentation in the lab. Similarly, it typically doesn't arise in the wake of grand feats and accomplishments, like climbing a mountain or finishing a marathon. However, those individual experiences--Einstein's 99% perspiration--can often serve as the individual pieces to a puzzle yet fully realized in the mind's eye.

When that gestalt-blowing, eureka moment hits (http://www.shu.edu/projects/reals/history/archimed.html), you'll more likely find yourself walking absentmindedly through the woods, eating oatmeal in the early silence of morning, sitting deadlocked in a steaming traffic-maddened cityscape, or maybe casually driving along a coastal highway (http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1993/mullis-autobio.html). Or perhaps you'll be eating a creatively, expertly prepared meal at a local restaurant.

Fine dining typically sits at the top of the inspirational food chain. Those high-minded, white-tablecloth interpretations with their subtle--sometimes pleasantly startling--nuances change shape and form as they trickle down the tiers until they take on new life as possibly the latest fusion of flavors in a hand-held, to go snack-styled meal from a convenience store for $1.99. Stranger things have happened.

Speaking of strangeness, some of the most-innovative concepts in fine dining are coming from the so-called molecular gastronomists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_gastronomy), sometimes dubbed food deconstructionists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction), who have taken a fusion of science and culinary and are presenting edible representations of unforetold creations.

Click the following links for some food for thought. Or, when in Chicago or New York--or Barcelona or Bray, for that matter--and have a few hundred bucks burning a hole in your pocket (well, sometimes it's not quite that highfalutin … but not uncommonly...), experience these wonders firsthand.

Homaro Cantu, Moto, Chicago
http://www.motorestaurant.com/flash/index.html
Also http://www.fastcompany.com/subscr/105/open_food-cantu.html

Grant Achatz, Alinea, Chicago
http://www.alinea-restaurant.com
Also http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/brain-food-%7C-grant-achatz

Wylie Dufresne, wd~50, New York
http://www.wd-50.com  
Also, Esquire ran a good article in the March 2005 issue--dubbed "Wylie Dufresne and the Fun Food Factory"--but, alas, I can't find a free link to it online (remember that libraries still exist…)

Ferrán Adrià, El Bulli, Barcelona, Spain
http://www.elbulli.com/
Also http://www.time.com/time/innovators/culinary/profile_adria.html  

Heston Blumenthal, The Fat Duck, Bray, England
http://www.fatduck.co.uk/
Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fat_Duck (and yes, I'm addicted to Wikipedia…)

Other akin restaurants exist, but this should get you started. Feel free to suggest similar worthwhile spots of inspiration.

Sometimes, it's not the destination that really matters, but the journey that truly enlightens.