The Alchemist's Kitchen

‘The Four Flavours’
The Alchemist believed that lead could be ‘perfected’ into gold and that all things in the world including himself must strive to become better in this way. In his search for the sorcerer’s stone, a magic formula that would create the Elixir of Life, he came to understand the language of the world, written in the way his flames communicated secrets and stories while his ingredients combined to form an experience that was worth profoundly more as a whole than the sum of its parts. Appetised by the heat of his fire, the Alchemist raises a wand high while pointing to the ground- ‘As Above, So Below’; he understands that whatever changes he makes in the stars is reflected deep within himself, and the same is just as true in reverse. In his kitchen, the Alchemist mixes brews and powders, distills feelings into flavours, tempering the heat surrounded by vials marked in symbols only he can read; ‘olive oil’,’flour’,’water’. A spar with time in search of the essence that will bring people together by his fire, sharing their own secrets and stories, altering the stars. The Alchemist knows that when one thing evolves into gold, all other things evolve around it, because it is written.

The illustration, found on an ancient emerald tablet, is a cross section of the four flavours that make up the human experience of food; Dulcis (sweet), salsa (salty), uvam (sour), amarum (bitter).
Outer alchemical symbols (clockwise from top); infinity, smoke, garlic, heat, yeast, time, basil, butter, salt, wood, sulfur, sugar, fire.