Food is Art

I would just like to start out this blog post by saying that I completely believe that food is art. Being the non-picky kind of person that I am, food is art not just because of its taste but also because of its texture, color, process and smell. The way food is prepared is probably one of the most obvious reasons why food is art. It requires skill, sometimes passion, certain tools, certain ingredients and machinery like ovens, microwaves and stoves. Just as painting requires a paint brushes, paper, canvases, etc., so does food just with a different kind of paint brush.

For example, Telfer states, “First, it is generally agreed that there can be aesthetic reactions to tastes and smells. (There can also, of course, be visual aesthetic experiences connected with foodstuffs, as when one admires a rosy apply, but these raise no questions peculiar to food and drink)” (Telfer, 11). In this sentence, Telfer compares the experience of see a beautiful work of art such as a painting or a sculpture to that of a red apple. She also states that it is possible to look at a landscape and be indifferent to it but also recognize its beauty. I think that this is the same for food. While a person may look at a doughnut and just see fried dough, another person may look at it and notice the bright pink frosting with sprinkles that are the color of the rainbow. That same person may even take a bite of that doughnut and experience a brief moment of ecstasy as the sugar engulfs their mouth. “Second, as with the other examples of aesthetic experiences connected with reaction, we can distinguish liking the taste and smell of food from approving of it instrumentally on the ground that it is nourishing, fashionable or produced by politically respectable regimes” (Telfer, 11).

I’d have to say Modernism: Art as Ideology best defines my view of food as art. For example, Dissanayake, in her essay “What is Art for?”, she states, “This was that there is a special frame of mind for appreciating works of art —  a “disinterested attitude that is separate from one’s own personal interest in the object, its utility, or its social or religious ramifications” (17). She goes on to say, “’Disinterest’ implied that viewers could appreciate any art, even the artwork of eras or cultures far removed from their own, whether or not they understood the meaning the works had for the people who made and used them. Art was universal” (18). For many different cultures, say Third World countries, food become more than food. It can be considered an art and a delicacy because food tends to be scarce. “Likewise we can distinguish the person who ‘enjoys his food’ but does not notice what he eats, from the person whose awareness is more vivid – the latter reaction being the only one which is characteristically aesthetic” (Telfer, 11). The girl in Africa who bites into a juicy red apple may see it differently than I do. She sees it as a lifesaver. Her awareness of this scarcity is an art making the food an art. Her awareness is more vivid. She doesn’t take it for granted, like many people do when it comes to art…not matter what kind of art you’re seeing.