The living pastry. Frank Haasnoot presents Prisma, his first book

‘I always tell myself to keep an open mind, to take everything in perspective and to be playful.’ In this spirit, the well-known and renowned Dutch chef Frank Haasnoot has been living the pastry trade intensely since an early age, almost a quarter of a century ago. And with this spirit, he has developed one of the most exciting projects of his brilliant career, the realization of his first book.

Haasnoot is one of the chosen ones, one of those who have achieved that when we see some of his creations, we immediately know it is either his or an impersonator’s. A style that has been built from his imagination and talent, with the noble intention of designing something that nobody has done before, by using his hands and his own resources.

While reviewing his plentiful production over recent years, Haasnoot realized that color is an omnipresent element in almost all of his work. And he asked himself: Why not use it as a common thread in the book?

The next step was to establish the colors that would form his palette, and how to combine them with the flavors he works with. Six colors for six chapters. White because of its balance, elegance and lightness. Yellow for being the color of ideas and spontaneity. Red because it represents the necessary passion for a trade like that of a pastry chef. Green for being the color of nature and freshness. Purple because it symbolizes magic, imagination, inspiration, and creativity. And finally, black for its sobriety and nobility.

Then a title had to be chosen. ‘Rainbow’ or ‘Colorful’ were quickly rejected because they sounded too juvenile. And the word ‘prisma’ surfaced, a term shared by the Spanish and Dutch languages, and which identifies an object that is capable of refracting, reflecting and decomposing light in the colors of the rainbow. ‘It’s a strong word and the fact that it has of all these colors made it just feel right,’ says the author. A striking logo was created, and the six colors chosen were situated.

It must be said that Haasnoot makes responsible usage of color, with elegance and good taste, and without falling into a harsh or gratuitous and unnecessary excess.

Through his Prisma, Frank Haasnoot shows us his most symbolic creations, and others that are all completely unpublished, fresh, suggestive and full of life. It is the work of a Creator with capital letters in which he shows the beauty of his patisserie, but he also shares his recipes, his techniques and his resources. Because, as he himself confesses, if something does not go as planned, it should not be a problem, ‘if something happens by mistake look at how you can turn it into an advantage.’

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