Wylie Dufresne and the Fun Food Factory

Wylie Dufresne deconstructs food. He breaks it down to its smallest parts and then puts it back together. And puts it back together with things like transglutaminase and xanthan gum and various thixotropic agents. Like most artists who destroy their medium in order to reinvent it, he is not always popular. His art may, in fact, destroy him. But it's cool. It's really cool.

The egg came first. In case you were wondering.

There are a lot of questions that will be asked in the course of this story—such as "Is it possible to fry mayonnaise?" And "If not, why not?" And "Why would anyone want to?"—so let's start with an answer to one of the biggies: The egg came first.

It was the first thing Wylie Dufresne learned to cook. Moreover, the egg comes first, because he's been obsessed with eggs ever since he learned to cook them. He's an obsessive guy, Wylie. Six days a week, he gets to his restaurant, WD-50, at around noon, and six days a week, he begins his working day by making himself and anyone who happens to be in the kitchen a plate of ... // 96% Remaining