Food As Art

OBJECTIVES

• 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.
• Consider cultural differences in the production and consumption food.

 

ORIGINAL POST

Do I see food as art?

Do I see food as art? I asked myself this question after reading Elizabeth Telfer’s article. The author used a lot of different ways trying to figure out this question; for example, she define art in the classifying and evaluative sense, and she tried to differ art and craft in the respect of usefulness and creativeness.  She concluded that food is a kind of “minor art” because “works of art in food, whether creative or interpretative, cannot gain the same stature as those of greater permanence” (p.25). I guess I understand this conclusion but I see this in a different way. Again, I was trying to think if I see food as art, and I concluded that it all depends on how people treat that food.

• Some food are definitely can be called art. Chiefs are creating and carving an art instead of making dishes for feeding people. Of course, people can eat these because they are made by real food, but these be called art not because they are food. Here are some examples:

 

http://www.theendearingdesigner.com/creative-food-architecture-and-sculpture-designs

http://www.theendearingdesigner.com/creative-food-architecture-and-sculpture-designs

 

http://yunying19808.blog.163.com/blog/static/137491370201271052636711/

 

 

• Some food could be called art for some reasons, or they could be art for some people. This is similar to what Dissanayake defined art which is “making something sepecial” (p.10). People did these for special reasons and these also are dishes. They are dishes but probably its main function is not feeding people, so the taste is not important here. Just like Telfer mentioned that “it deserves to be apprised aesthetically, even though it may then be found wating” (p.13). So for people who created, these would be arts, but to some other people, they might not see these as art because they have no special meaning for them. Here are some examples:

ttp://weheartit.com/entry/19986670

http://weheartit.com/entry/19986732

 

 

• Some food show a lot of creativeness, but they just might not lead people have “aesthetic reaction”. I know some arts express feelings of humor, but whether or not call them work of art depends on different people. To some of people, they would think it is genius and grateful while some other people would think that is rubbish. Here are some examples:

 

http://artsfield.net/2013/05/07/food-art-4/

http://www.gmw.cn/cg/2013-02/04/content_6622506.htm

 

http://www.gmw.cn/cg/2013-02/04/content_6622506.htm

• When is comes to food that we eat very day, which is meals, I don’t think we should count them as work as art. People who eat them rarely think of aesthetic feelings, and people who made them don’t think they are creating art as they cooking. I cook for myself, and I don’t think I am making art even I really enjoy cooking. I guess this is more depends on how people see that dish. For example, the most common food, instant noodles, when we look at it in different ways, it will lead to very different feelings and conclusions.

 

It might not be art but it might be a beautiful thing when we look it like this:

http://www.0086lady.com/health/yinshi/201310/8897.html

http://www.0086lady.com/health/yinshi/201310/8897_2.html

http://www.0086lady.com/health/yinshi/201310/8897_3.html

However, for the same thing, it could also be like this:

http://bbs.tiexue.net/post_6198304_1.html

 

To sum up, food is a too general thing to say it is art or not. It all depends.

 

REFLECTION

            I think the most interesting part when I did this assignment is when I saw Tefler differ craft and art because I never thought this before. I always feel like it is impossible to define something like art and craft, and it is even harder to differ them. Tefler discussed two ways to differ craft and art in his article, one is “if it is intended for contemplation it is a work of art, if for use it is a work of craftsmanship”(Tefler, 8), and another is “art is original creation, whereas craft is carrying out an instruction, following a convention or employing a technique.(Tefler, 8). This kind of distinction impressed me when I first read it, and I think those are very good ways to differ craft and art. I start to compare two piece of work in this way, and I find out that the result based on how people look at it. Like I said in my blog, there are too many ways to think about food as art or not. If someone thinks original creation is more important, most of food could not be seen as art since they are lack of creativity; whereas when some people thinks the athletic reflection is more important, then any food which looks nice would count as art probably.

I didn’t see how culture difference affect the way I see food before I took this class, and I feel it is interesting that I start to think about it now. For example, China is a county that regard food as top thing in people’s daily life, and chefs are like to spending a lot of time on not only improve the taste of a dish but also the look of it. Compare to China, Americans seem like less care about how a dish looks like when they order food, and I guess they care more about tastes. But in terms of asking if a person see food as art, Chinese people would more likely to say yes than American because different culture gives them different perspective about food.

http://thedish.restaurant.com/america-the-delicious-50-nifty-american-restaurants-to-try-this-week/

I guess very few people would think fast food as art since they art dose not look pretty in general and it is unhealthy to people. But if someone who is important to me made this kind of sandwich for a specific reason, I probably would see it as a piece of art for sure. I think people’s perspective of something always deal with people themselves or people involved in, and this would be different when it just a random sandwich. I think it is important to let myself stand out of the story when I am deciding whether I see a dish or food in general as art.

Bibliography:

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.

 

FUTURE

This assignment affected me a lot because I never thought question like this before, and I am glad that I did this assignment when I feel like I can see food in a deeper level or in a art view. It is really interesting and I guess I will keep doing this, and I wish I could learn from this and use it into something else, for example, ask myself do I see books or animals as art. I think this would very interesting.

 

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  Table of  Contents

·         What is Art?

·         Food As Art

·         Adornment

·         Horror

·         Creative Spirituality

·         Technology

·         Remix

·         Public Art

·         Bibliography

 

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