Dynamic capabilities and molecular cuisine: hermeneutic reinterpretation and heuristic experimentation as drivers of gastronomic innovation

Abstract

The essay analyzes molecular cuisine as an empirical manifestation of dynamic capabilities through the articulation between hermeneutic reinterpretation and heuristic experimentation. It argues that contemporary gastronomic innovation transcends culinary technique and constitutes a process of knowledge transformation in which tradition is reinterpreted and reconfigured through systematic experimentation. From a hermeneutic perspective, molecular cuisine symbolically reconstructs culinary knowledge, generating new meanings and redefining the gastronomic experience, while the heuristic approach explains innovation as the result of iterative processes of trial, learning, and progressive adjustment. The integration of both perspectives makes it possible to understand molecular cuisine as a dynamic process of organizational learning that drives the reconfiguration of resources and competencies. Likewise, the analysis incorporates the notion of paradigm change to highlight the transition from traditional cuisine toward a model based on science, creativity, and experimentation. Based on this theoretical articulation, the essay proposes a conceptual model in which the reinterpretation of culinary knowledge influences heuristic experimentation, which in turn leads to organizational reconfiguration and the development of dynamic capabilities that generate sustained gastronomic innovation. Consequently, molecular cuisine is interpreted as a laboratory for knowledge production that integrates interpretive philosophy, decision theory, and strategic management.