Artifact 3: Food As Art Research
Learning Unit Objective
- Examine methods for evaluating qualities of art, such as product versus process, the difference between craft and fine art, must art be archival, and what is an aesthetic reaction.
- Explore the notion of food as an art-form.
- Consider cultural differences in the production and consumption food.
Slow Food Presentation: Is It art?
Original Post
I read an enlightening article from New York Times in which the author rejects the idea that food can be art. As a matter of fact, the author conveys a view that chefs are technicians who feed people, and who create, combine or display materials or ingredients in plate in a prettier way. Even though those works may arise sensually aesthetic experience, works can never be considered as crafts.
The author conveys a view that Food is popular and agreed to be art because it starts taking place of peoples’ spiritual pursuits as art replaced the position of religion in 20th century. In his own words, “Just as aestheticism, the religion of art, inherited the position of Christianity among the progressive classes around the turn of the 20th century, so has foodism taken over from aestheticism around the turn of the 21st. Now we read the gospel according, not to Joyce or Proust, but to Michael Pollan and Alice Waters” (2012). In his opinion, he believes food “has become invested with the meaning of life. It is seen as the path to salvation, for the self and humanity both”. Indeed, this is a very interesting point. Since everyone fixes all attention on the issue that whether or not food is art, we certainly do not think about the swift from aestheticism to “foodism”. Maybe we can include “foodism” or “appreciation of food” into aestheticism (if we follow what Tefler insists), we can hardly deny the position change of food in human life.
After the analysis of the foodism with reference to the aestheticism and religion, he moves on to discuss what art should be and why food can’t be art after all. He writes, “A good risotto is a fine thing, but it isn’t going to give you insight into other people, allow you to see the world in a new way, or force you to take an inventory of your soul” (2012). In contrast to the essay of Tefler, if we start by talking about “senses”, food would be immediately out of the game. William, the author of this article, holds a point that food doesn’t convey any representation. It can’t express human’s emotion, since it is originally not designed to do so. However, Tefler thinks food can express chef’s feelings and it can stimulate feelings of people who eat it. Tefler in her article talks a lot about “aestheticism”, and compares food to other art forms, as a “creator of a recipe to a composer, and the cook… to a performer” (2002). She thinks that food should be classified as art because it appears to sense. In Trefler’s mind, cookery that consists of skilled creation and recipe performance is a form of art, and the dishes made are the work of art because they have presentation of creators’ perspiration and emotion and it can be a story. On the contrary, William thinks “an apple is not a story even if we can tell a story about it. A curry is not an idea, even if its creation is the result of one” (2012). He made a very appealing and convincing conclusion that “Proust on the madeleine is art; the madeleine itself is not art”, which means food itself is not art.’
In a word, Tefler emphasizes how aesthetic experience you can have when you are eating a dish, and she thinks, aesthetic experience makes it art. But, in William’s opinion, even if it can gives people some sensual experience and arise some emotion t o make people feel connected (people can describe their own feelings towards a certain object, and sometimes those are not provided by the food), food itself conveys no such characteristics.
After reading this article, I have a different view about the question. I understand every piece of reasoning in Tefler’s essay; however, she may build up the theory on a not so solid base. Food is well developed by a system of sensation, so it is not even precise to discuss this question by saying that food can give us sensually aesthetic experience. Maybe later I can be convinced by other theories, but for his reasoning, after I read William’s essay, the whole argument seems powerless. Admittedly, food can evoke emotions, but I think, those emotions are mostly general and vague.
Reflection
In this unit’s learning, by reading Tefler’s essay, I try to get an idea about how to examine art, or how we consider the qualities of art. With the discussion of “is food art”, I was introduced to understand the conception: aesthetic experience. By examining questions like “what is aesthetic experience”, “how to measure it” and “Why it is a quality of art”, I gain more understanding of the notion of food as an art-form. Tefler said, “We naturally associate the word ‘aesthetic’ with the arts, but we can also speak of an aesthetic reaction to natural things such as a beautiful landscape, or to man-made, non-art objects such as pieces of machinery”, which means food as a high-crafty required object, it can generate this certain reaction when we limit it to art appreciation (2002).
This academic essay helps me understand the main topic of this unit in a different angle. Instead of focusing on the aesthetic side being discussed by Tefler, William points out “proust on the Madeleine is art; the Madeleine itself is not art” (2012). This could make another footnote for this question about whether or not food is art, which gives us a thought on “product versus process”. Finally, Tefler also mentions the culture difference of food, which will produce different food production and consumption style.
Future Intention
In the future, I think I would probably have a different emotion when I eat food, especially exquisite ones. Because I want to feel the “aesthetic reaction”. But more importantly, I will start to look at a certain food with a sight of historical and cultural sight, trying to search the relevant culture behind the dish. In a word, I will look it as a beautiful art-form. This process of writing an academic essay also gives me more critical logic when I observe or think a problem or debate. This benefits me to have a full picture of any problem in my future life.
Bibliography
William Deresiewicz (2012, Oct). A Matter of Taste? Retrieved January 18th, 2014 from
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