Food is an art: Is or Is Not
The author Elizabeth Telfer explained that not only we can associated the word “aesthetic” with arts, but we can consider natural things as art, such as beautiful landscape, or man-made objects. Food can be an art, a minor form of art rather than a major art. She defined on page 5 “a work of art is by definition a man-made thing”. Later on, she mentioned an art form is a type of work art later on. So if dishes of food can be considered as art, then food is an art form. However, I found her explanation is somewhat doubtful. Does food it self is an art, or food is an art if the dishes of food is an art? I agree that food has some aesthetic value if the food has been made nice and delicious, but I am still not strongly convinced that food is an art because food is necessities of our lives. No doubts, everyone eats, we eat food not necessarily for the enjoyment of food nor the aesthetic value of food. According to Ellen, “art as a kind of behavior that developed as they evolved, to help them survive” (2). We eat food for survival first, and then we pick the one we like and enjoy what we eat. On the other hand, I may consider the process of making food can be considering an art. If people see the appearance of well-made food, there is some possibility they will consume the food. Therefore, food is an art and the craft and experience of consuming the food become an art as well. Even though people follow the same recipe to make the same food, the food made by two people rarely to be exactly the same. This is because the even the process of making food is the same, but the mood of cooks when they are making the food might not be alike. They want to make their own piece of art, this is how food can be unique to cook themselves. People just do not notice the food as an art because it is all around us and is part of our daily lives. In some point of time, we might need to appreciate food.
October 25th, 2013 at 6:42 PM
In your post you wrote that, “Even though people follow the same recipe to make the same food, the food rarely to be exactly the same.” Then you go onto say that the difference is the mood. I don’t think that’s where the art or the difference in the food is. I think the art is the difference of styles and methods used to cook those same ingredients. If you have ever seen the show Chopped on the Food Network, the cooks are given the four same mystery ingredients and then compete to make the best dish. In the show the chefs almost always make different things as each other because there’s so much different methods of cooking and styles that you can cook food in. That I think is where the art in food is. The thought that goes behind the design and execution of the dish.
October 26th, 2013 at 6:51 PM
I think you are right about the art in food. I like your example of saying the art of food goes behind the design and execution of the dish. What I was meant to explain in my post is that even though all cooks follow the same recipes to cook one dish, this dish might still be different because the way cooks cook will be different. Mood probably will be one of the reason that drive to this result. If you are in a happy mood, the food you made might be tasteful than the one you made when you are upset. You will consider what you made is an art to you. Like you said, in the show the chefs almost always make different things because they are using different method. This is the same logic that I applied to mine about cooking mood.
October 27th, 2013 at 9:20 PM
In determining if food is art or not you just need to analyze your definition of art. Telfer says “a work of art is by definition a man-made thing”, and “is an artefact primarily intended for aesthetic consideration” (12). Personally I view food as an art because food is man-made, creativity is used in putting together dishes, and it can cause a reaction. This definition can be applied to all types of food including fast food. I definitely agree that the quality of the food and care that goes into making it is drastically different for homemade verse fast food. In your discussion you also acknowledge the taste of food and I wonder if taste plays a factor for you in considering if food is art. There are some art competitions were chefs create beautiful sculptures made of food, and while the designs are eatable they do not taste good. It is food but it was created to look at not to be tasty.