Is Food Art? Discussion
In the article ‘art for life’s sake’, the author Ellen mentioned that art is “includes all human societies and accounts for the fact that art is a psychological or emotional need and has psychological or emotional effects” (page 1), moreover, art is also an interpretation and helps people to better understand our “social institutions, language” ( page 5). Art, apart from its emphasis on aesthetic values and its universal value as critical for human’s survival, should be seen as a broad category of behaviors and matters. Normally, we understand art in a relatively narrow way: we think of art as something aesthetically inspiring or metaphorical, in forms such as canvas, paper and human invented mediums. However, food should be considered as art not only because food also contains aesthetic values, but that food is a medium that carries the history and culture of human beings. We should not put limitations on what could be called as art or not simply basing on the visual effects of stuff.
In Elizabeth Tefler’s article, she mentioned about the aesthetic in tastes in food and she made a strong point about how ‘form is not necessarily required for beauty” (page 23). I in particular like her quote on Visser about how “A meal is an artistic social construct, ordering the food stuffs which comprise it into a complex dramatic whole, as a play organizes actions and words into component parts such as acts, scenes, speeches, dialogues, entrances and exists….” In my culture, the appreciation of food is carried along the history. Although Chinese food is recognized as one of the most popular food everywhere in the world now, food in the Chinese history is far more than the aesthetics and culinary techniques. We went through traumatic historical events about starvation as a nation, and through those traumatic experiences we learn to cook creatively and eat in sophisticated ways; and those historical memories are engraved in the history of food and culinary art. What could carry history better than food? Food is for like’s sake and is art.
I like the idea of relating art back as a historical reference and cultural representation. Food has been the essence of survival for human beings. As the homosapien species has gone through evolution so has their lifestyle. The way our food is presented to us nowadays, our early ancestors would be taken aback at how elegant and beautiful our plates look. However, if you were to look back at the way our ancestors prepared food, do you think you would still consider their food art? In Tefler’s essay, she makes a valid point between the difference between art and a craft (pg. 15). Would you consider food more of an art or a craft? I would also like to ask if due to the fact your culture saw food as a scarcity, would food be seen more as an art or more of a outlet for survival or a higher power (so to speak)? However, I do agree with your standpoint on the idea of food being art as I feel the chef behind the plate put time and effort into making sure we would revel in the presence of our meal.