Granada is again divulging to a wider and more discerning visitor some of its best kept culinary secrets, as in more and more parts of the country; dishes long overlooked are once again coming to the fore.

As the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, Granada has retained many of the Moorish influences in its cuisine. Whilst some of those dishes might match the fabulous proportions of the regional capital’s Alhambra palace, the renaissance has largely been in much simpler, traditional dishes.

And that’s where the guide-book “renaissance” in Spanish cooking might end, if it were not for the revolutionary culinary experimentation of a new breed of daring young Spanish chefs. Leader of the pack is indisputably Ferrán Adrià, whose restaurant, El Bulli in Barcelona, remains the flagship of a distinctly Spanish renaissance in cooking.

El Bulli has an awesome reputation to maintain, having been voted by food critics last year as the best restaurant in the world! Admittedly, it was relegated to second place this year – but has not stopped some 300,000 would-patrons each year trying to book a table at the restaurant. With a maximum capacity for just 8,000, that left a whole crowd of disappointed and hungry customers.

It’s even doubtful whether it is hunger alone that attracts such patronage. Like many an innovator, Adrià is definitely experimental in his creativity – his work is decidedly avant garde. Gourmet magazine has called him “the Salvador Dalí of the kitchen”. He is deliberately provocative and creative experimentation seems to be placed above simply pleasing the diner’s palate.

Indeed, one leading food critic has expressed her bemused disgust at some of the dishes served during a marathon of two dozen or so courses recently at El Bulli – a truffle ravioli with bone marrow and rabbit brains came in for peculiar attention – together with the cherries coated in lard that opened this particular gourmet adventure.

And that’s largely the point of this Spanish Renaissance. The object is not to satisfy the diner’s preconceived notions of fine food, but to provoke, to surprise, to deliver the unexpected – and the likes or dislikes of the diner himself or herself must take second place.

As one of Ferrán Adrià’s adherents puts it – drawing on the parallel with another Spanish painter – “”Picasso would never have painted as he did if he cared whether people liked his painting”.

That is why there is such little point in simply producing a digest of the menu on offer at El Bulli, or any of the new wave of cutting-edge restaurants to be found predominantly in Catalonia and the Basque Country. A list of the day’s “experiments” would soon be beyond its sell-by date and some shocking new gem of a dish would inevitably be left out or overlooked. The renaissance in Spanish cookery shares much with the renaissance in cooking more generally.

For example, those responsible for a similar renaissance in the English-speaking world – such as the new generation of British chefs from Gordon Ramsay to Jamie Oliver – have driven home the simple truth that the secret of producing good food lies not in some arcane culinary art, but in the freshness and wholesomeness of the basic, local ingredients themselves.

The lesson is not lost on Ferrán Adrià or any of the new Spanish school. They use only good, fresh, local food, generally adapting the well-known dishes of their region and giving them a new life, a new texture, presentation and taste.

The same approach is taken by top chef Marc Veyrat, whose two restaurants have already won the coveted 3-stars awarded by Michelin; and by another 3-star chef, Juan Mari Arzak., from San Sebastian. Veyrat – himself a Frenchman, is on record as saying that the most creative and inventive chefs in Europe are no longer the French, but the Spanish. The new wave of exciting, mould-breaking cuisine is fast gathering new disciples – like the up and coming former pupils of Ferrán Adrià, Andoni Luis Aduriz and Carlos Abellán of Barcelona.

For all the experimentation and surprise over the unexpected, however, the renaissance in Spanish cookery is helping to ensure that the arts of simple, traditional cooking are no longer overlooked – or worse still, allowed to fade away. Instead, those same arts are being given an entirely new spin. Like many a lasting revolution and renaissance, there is continuity in change.

We are all the beneficiaries of this kind of renaissance. It has the potential to enrich our enjoyment and appreciation of life. The potential is there for our taking.

And that is precisely what should be encouraged – just take the opportunity and seize the potential of the renaissance in Spanish cookery. A renaissance is nothing if not enjoyed and Spain offers the setting, the climate, the hospitality and the ambiance to enjoy it to the full.

Renaissance also feeds on itself. The renaissance in Spanish cooking is designed to whet your appetite for new, exciting and different ways of enjoying food. Some you will like; some you will not. The choice is yours. Above all, therefore, whenever you discover an especially exciting or novel dish or an establishment that prepares your favourite dish in a particularly satisfying way, remember to pass on the good news to all your friends. Good food is to be enjoyed – and that enjoyment is enhanced many times over when it is shared.