Unit Objective:

  • Examine methods for evaluating qualities of art, such as product versus process, the difference between craft and fine art, must be archival, and what is an aesthetic reaction

 

The original blog post can be viewed here.

Is Food Art? Discussion

I would like to say that I do think food is art, and I have always thought it was art but I never even tried to think about the reasons why I thought this until this assignment. The writer makes this elaborate case of arguments about why they think food is art, but I think my reasoning is a little more simple although I do agree with most of what the author has to say. I think most food is art because it is created by people for the sake of pleasure, each and every person and culture has their own style of cooking, and they can be appreciated with almost all the senses of the body. The first part of my reasoning about food having the purpose of pleasure actually goes along with when the author says, “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 apple” (Tefler, 11). So food causes aesthetic experiences that the chef or cook wants people to experience when they are creating the meal. The author also goes into talking about how chefs could be an artist or a craftsman who are following technique and instructions to cook, but as “technique is a mark of craft, but the creative artist requires technique” (Tefler, 15). Although when people cook most of the time they use recipes, there is always room for improvising or interpretation which will in the end give the meal the cook’s own flare or style. The one thing I did disagree with the author on was that “the art of food is minor because it is not only simple but also limited in three important ways: food is necessarily transient, it cannot have meaning and it cannot move us” (24). They may have thought art was minor for these reasons, but I think it should not be called simple by any means. If food is art, then it should be noticed for its remarkable ability to appeal to almost all bodily senses: taste, smell, texture, and visual. I think that my view of food and art are more like Post-modernism view of art from Dissanayake’s essay because it doesn’t fall under the modernism view. I don’t think you should have to experience food in a “disinterested” fashion, you actually need to be interested in it with your own personal likes and dislikes in order to appreciate it. It is post-modernism view because accepting food as art is the same as accepting “that any ‘truth’ or ‘reality’ is only a point of view” (Dissanayake, 5). Some people believe it as a reality that food isn’t art, but that is their point of view and others view food as art which is another point of view. I don’t think all food is necessarily art such as fast food which is described in the video as a sort of homogenized taste which is well illustrated in McDonald’s slogan of “One taste Worldwide” (“Fast Food”). Sadly, I can’t think of a good argument for my opinion, but I think a lot of people might agree with me.

Reflection:

Writing this artifact really helped me examine the methods for evaluating the quality of art because it made use these in order to determine if I thought food qualified as art.  I explored the process versus product way in evaluating art when thinking about food. I came to my own conclusion that if food was prepared in a way that they were trying to make it into art, it was art. I was in agreement with a quote from the assigned reading:“Our definition of a work of art, in the classifying sense, was: ‘a thing intended or used wholly or largely for aesthetic consideration”’ (Tefler, 14).If the chef was trying to give their viewer (or taster) an aesthetic reaction, then I viewed these foods as art.  I found that a very good example of this was from the assigned Youtube video (Slow Food) where the speaker was describing how people were preparing a meal and because they were doing it so skillfully and intending it to be art, even the words describing their actions sounded beautiful and artful.

Food can be seen as art in the fact that there is a craft of cooking and there is also a fine art of cooking. People who cook for their families  but who are not professionally trained know the craft of cooking. People who go to school have learned the fine art of cooking. The one thing that worked against the idea of food being art was that it was not archival. It essentially has to be destroyed in order to experience (taste) it. It cannot be saved and viewed for years and years.

Future Intentions:

In the future, I will use these methods for evaluating qualities of art when looking at all types of art, not just food. I will look more closely if something gives the audience aesthetic reactions. I now am more educated in evaluating art that whenever I see art in the future I will think about these things. I will ask others what they think makes something art and what does not.

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