Craig Thornton isn’t just a chef: he’s a creator of worlds. Sure, his dinners have caught the attention of those in the culinary scene: reservations for Wolvesmouth, the pop-up dining event he started in Los Angeles in 2010, are known to be among the most difficult to get in the city. Over the years, though, they’ve also attracted a following in the art world, recently culminating in a residency for Thornton at MOCA. Guiding diners through an omni-sensory experience, Thornton crafts immersive dining events that marry food with elaborate and evocative installed environments.

Thornton’s experiments with texture and flavor are colorful, sensual, and nearly carnal. Some dishes ooze and seem to bleed. Others are amoebic specimens with dollops of color and form. This attention to appearance is hardly at the expense of technique, however—his complex, surprising meals have included plates like “Wolves in the Snow,” a collage of venison, cauliflower purée and beet-blackberry gastrique. (For a full tour through a recent meal at Wolvesmouth, we highly recommend this photo-filled article from Carolina Miranda at the Los Angeles Times.)

In an eye-widening, mouth-watering featurette from The New Yorker, Thornton describes a tumultuous childhood in Arizona; an upbringing itself straight from the wolf’s mouth. Connecting the “violence and beauty” of Thornton’s cuisine with that of his life story, it captures a powerful portrait of the escape provided by acts of creation and consumption.

Even if you’re not dining with Thornton anytime soon, his work is a powerful example of the ways that food can be elevated and re-invented—and a reminder that with creativity and perseverance, we can forge our own new worlds.

Craig Thornton isn’t just a chef: he’s a creator of worlds. Sure, his dinners have caught the attention of those in the culinary scene: reservations for Wolvesmouth, the pop-up dining event he started in Los Angeles in 2010, are known to be among the most difficult to get in the city. Over the years, though, they’ve also attracted a following in the art world, recently culminating in a residency for Thornton at MOCA. Guiding diners through an omni-sensory experience, Thornton crafts immersive dining events that marry food with elaborate and evocative installed environments.

Thornton’s experiments with texture and flavor are colorful, sensual, and nearly carnal. Some dishes ooze and seem to bleed. Others are amoebic specimens with dollops of color and form. This attention to appearance is hardly at the expense of technique, however—his complex, surprising meals have included plates like “Wolves in the Snow,” a collage of venison, cauliflower purée and beet-blackberry gastrique. (For a full tour through a recent meal at Wolvesmouth, we highly recommend this photo-filled article from Carolina Miranda at the Los Angeles Times.)

In an eye-widening, mouth-watering featurette from The New Yorker, Thornton describes a tumultuous childhood in Arizona; an upbringing itself straight from the wolf’s mouth. Connecting the “violence and beauty” of Thornton’s cuisine with that of his life story, it captures a powerful portrait of the escape provided by acts of creation and consumption.

Even if you’re not dining with Thornton anytime soon, his work is a powerful example of the ways that food can be elevated and re-invented—and a reminder that with creativity and perseverance, we can forge our own new worlds.