Is food art? I would argue emphatically that it can be. To minimize a finely crafted dish down to its nutrients is as shortsighted as to say that Monet’s paint merely served it’s purpose to cover the canvas and no longer make it white or that Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata merely broke an awkward silence. Yes, food is functional. So are paint and sound. If you can accept that paint and sound, in the hands of a skilled craftsman, can be transformed into something that takes your breath away, I would argue that so can food. Telfer’s claim that food as art only requires really good technique and not creativity, I feel, only displays either her lack of truly great culinary experiences or her lack of ability to appreciate them. I can freely admit that my appreciation for music or sculptures might not hold a candle to someone who is more knowledgeable and well versed in such subjects. However, for me to minimize those artists’ feats down to mere technical skill is, I feel, a bit more than mildly insulting. A true culinary artist creates new and insightful flavor combinations much the same way a painter might do with a brush or composer might do with their instrument. Yes the flavors are the same and the technique needs to be there, but it’s the way one arranges them that makes it either notes and food or something special, something never experienced before. I agree wholeheartedly with Prof. Huette that there are no lesser senses and that all of the senses can trigger intense emotional responses. I would like to add I feel he left out one of the tastes the Japanese refer to as Umami. I think the closest English synonym is savory, but doesn’t truly capture what this word means. In any case, I wont argue over syntax, but this brings the grand total of  flavors in a chef’s arsenal to six. That’s pretty close to the seven primary tones in music. In any case I would challenge Telfer to address Chef Masaharu Morimoto or Chef Mario Batali and tell them that they lack creativity and are sheer craftsmen. I can say from personal experience, I was once lucky enough to eat at the latter’s restaurant and it was nothing short of mind-blowing.