The article Art on the Plate: Effect of balance and color on attractive of, willingness to try and liking for food talks about different aesthetic reactions to food. These aesthetic reactions include non-instrumental, non-neutral, and sense experience; these are all topics that Tefler talked about in her article Food as art (course reading). Zellner et. al explains that although we may think that our liking for food may be based on it’s taste, texture, or burn there are other aspects that we overlook majority of the time (2010).

One of the overlooked aspects includes the physical appearance of the food. Most people will consume food that they know taste good or satisfy their hunger and sometimes those foods aren’t necessarily mean that they are aesthetically pleasing. On the other hand, in a situation where the individual is at a restaurant that they have never eaten at before they will likely make a decision off of either physical appearance, non-instrumental, or non-neutral components; this is something that I do when eating at a new restaurant. For example, most restaurants will have pictures of their dishes within their menu – this definitely influences the individual’s decision because they will most likely pick something that they think looks the most appetizing. Also, some people will ask others for their opinion on what to order whether it’s someone they are dining with or one of the restaurant staff members; this is an example of non-neutral, they assume that if it’s recommended they would most likely enjoy it also. Lastly, for some people the contents of the food is really important to them and the benefits that the food provides for the consumer influences their decisions. When someone considers the benefits of the actual food rather than physical appearance, taste, or smell they are going by non-instrumental ideas. Moreover, the ideas of aesthetic reactions including non-neutral, non-instrumental, and judgment were discussed in the assigned reading Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates by Elizabeth Telfer. Although Zellner did not use these exact terms but her explanations and examples were similar to Tefler. Overall, both Tefler and Zellner had the same views and insight to aesthetic reactions – especially when it comes to food.

The article Food as Art: The problem of function talks about the difference between art and craft when it comes to food. In the article Quinet states, “The culinary arts, one might claim, are indeed arts, but only when we use the term ‘art’ in the sense of mere ‘craft’; and this is not the way in which the term is used in aesthetics” (1981). She goes on to explain that the difference between the terms is merely between productive activities and the products of those productive activities. Quinet also claims that some products of crafts are not works of art, so the two terms although they are similar and sometimes go hand in hand it’s not always like that.

In the article, craft is looked at as the productive process or activity whereas art is mainly the outcome or product of the activity. The definitions given by Quinet in the article are similar to those that were given and discussed in the assigned reading Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates by Tefler. We can assume that their ideas are similar because Tefler states, “Art is original creation, whereas craft is carrying out an instruction, following a convention or employing a technique” (2002). Quinet and Tefler’s insight to the terms craft and art differ when Tefler goes on to talk about technique and creativity. She explains the difference between craft and art is whether a technique or creativity was used to create the product. Crafting requires the application of technique or skill whereas art takes mere creativity and expression to create a product. Overall, Quinet and Tefler have similar thoughts and agree that food is art to an extent. Also, even though chefs create the food, which is art, they are not exactly artists. Chefs would be considered more as craftsmen because it takes a lot of skill and technique to cook and create food. With that said the culinary arts could be seen as both a craft and art depending on your point of view and how you define the terms craft and art.

Quinet, M. L. (1981). Food As Art: the Problem of Function. The British Journal of Aesthetics, 21, 159–171. doi:10.1093/bjaesthetics/21.2.159

Tefler, E. (2002). Food as Art. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 2). New York, NY: Routledge.

Zellner, D. A., Lankford, M., Ambrose, L., & Locher, P. (2010). Art on the plate: Effect of balance and color on attractiveness of, willingness to try and liking for food. Food Quality and Preference, 21, 575–578. doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2010.02.007