With inventions like parmesan snow, chilled sauces that “boil” with dry ice and green olives made of “spherified” juice, Spain’s avant-garde chefs have created an international buzz for a national cuisine that was long considered an also-ran.

Now Santi Santamaría, one of the country’s most prominent chefs, has directed bruising public attacks at his avant-garde counterparts, accusing them of producing pretentious food they would not eat themselves — and potentially poisoning diners with chemicals that he says have no place in the kitchen.

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