CELEBRITY COOKS

Keanu Reeves to Become a Chef

Inspired by molecular gastronomy, actor considers career change.

In The Matrix, when the wise Morpheus says, “If real is what you can feel, smell, taste, and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain,” his pupil Neo (played, of course, by Keanu Reeves) takes him very, very seriously. So seriously that Reeves is thinking of shifting his career focus to studying those electrical signals...in the kitchen. After reading the book Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor by French chemist Hervé This, Reeves was inspired to consider a career in the culinary arts. “I’m dabbling in it and looking at becoming a chef,” Reeves said. “[Hervé This] is fantastic.” Molecular gastronomy, which is the study of physical and chemical processes that occur in cooking, has been embraced by some of the best chefs in the world, including Ferran Adrià (El Bulli in Spain), Wylie Dufresne (wd~50 in New York), and Grant Achatz (Alinea in Chicago). Says Reeves, “I didn’t really cook before, but this book may be changing my life.”