At the D.O.M. restaurant in São Paulo, Brazilian chef Alex Atala has been revising his menu every week for the third year running: the ants that were once served as a signature ingredient are now available only by special request. Their disappearance is a direct consequence of a record-breaking El Niño that has disrupted the usual cycles of rainfall and temperature in the Amazon.
The soil and microclimate of the region where the ants gather nectar and leaves have become too dry or, conversely, drenched by downpours. The flavor that once carried notes of forest resin and a light tartness is now either absent or losing its character. Atala says this is not merely a substitution of one product for another: along with the ants, a part of the cultural memory of indigenous peoples, whose traditions he reinterprets in his dishes, is disappearing.
In Copenhagen, chef Rasmus Munk of Alchemist is experimenting with "chocolate without cocoa." Instead of beans, he uses spent grain from brewing — BSG. The result is a fibrous, slightly nutty mass with a bitter aftertaste, closer in texture to dark chocolate than to conventional sweetness. Munk explains: the cocoa market is under pressure from droughts in West Africa, and a local alternative makes it possible to keep the dish without imports.
In Osaka, chef Yusuke Takada of La Cime notes the appearance of warm-water fish in familiar Japanese catches. Changes in ocean currents caused by El Niño have shifted migration routes, and the menu now more often features fish with softer, almost sweet flesh instead of the usual briny sea flavor. Takada pairs it with French techniques, but emphasizes: seasonality and provenance remain key.
In Dénia, Spain, chef Quique Dacosta of the Quique Dacosta restaurant is watching as the downpours of 2024 destroyed the rice paddies of the Albufera and the vineyards. Paella is losing its foundation — rice with a characteristic starchy flavor and a light smokiness from the local climate. Customers are canceling reservations because of the storms, and the restaurant is forced to adapt not only its menu but the very rhythm of its work.
These changes show how a global climatic anomaly strikes directly at local ingredients and techniques. Chefs are not simply looking for substitutes — they are rethinking the connection between soil, weather and flavor, while preserving the cultural context of their dishes. In 2026, when El Niño reaches its peak, it is precisely such adaptations that will become the norm for those who want to preserve authenticity amid instability.
To try these experiments, it is worth keeping an eye on the seasonal menus of the restaurants D.O.M. in São Paulo, Alchemist in Copenhagen and La Cime in Osaka — it is there that chefs openly demonstrate how weather is rewriting traditional flavors.
