Objective:

• Explore the notion of food as an art-form.

Original Post:

I believe food is art if it’s meant to be looked at or listened with intensity. So it depends on whether the creators intentions is to make it a work of art or not. I believe that all chefs who make food have the intent of displaying their food to the customer as art. Each time they make food and give it to a customer, it has their name on it and is their creation. They will do their best on every dish to make it taste the best and look good each time it is given to a customer. Here is a quote, “If dishes of foods are works of art, then food is an art form. It would be implausible to maintain that food and drink never constitute works of art in the classifying sense. People sometimes treat them as works of art, and i have argued that we can compare the creator of a recipe to a composer, and the cook who follows one to a performer”(21). As long as creator and follow have the intention of making the food art, then it is a work of art. The theory of art that best represents my view of food as an art is postmodernism. It says “Rather than assuming that art reflects a unique and privileged kind of knowledge, postmodernists point out that any truth or reality is only a point of view”(19). It basically says that everybody interprets art according to their own individual and cultural sensibilities. I agree with this and believe that art can be anything you want it to be.

Reflection: 

I have always believed that food can be an a form of art. As long as the creators intentions were having their food looked at or listened with intensity, then it is a form of art. This assignment helped me further be able to explain why I see food as an art form. Telfer had a quote I really liked in her article “Food as Art,” it said, “If dishes of foods are works of art, then food is an art form. It would be implausible to maintain that food and drink never constitute works of art in the classifying sense. People sometimes treat them as works of art, and i have argued that we can compare the creator of a recipe to a composer, and the cook who follows one to a performer.” It shows the relationship between a composer and creator, and also the similarities between performer and cook. It comparing music as a form of art to food as a form of art.

Continuing on the discussion, I have some more quotes from Telfer. “Like all sense presentations, smells and tastes can be pleasant to perception, can be dwelt on in contemplation, have specific and interesting character, recognizable and rememberable and objective. They offer an object, that is, for sustained discriminatory attention.” This shows how the smell and tasted of food can be considered a form of art in food. If the creator has the intention of the food tasting and smelling a certain way for the purpose of it being looked at with intensity, then it is art.

Future Goals:

This topic helped me further explore the notion of food as an art. I have always thought that food was art as long as the person making it was using it for that intent. I hope in the future I will be able to talk to a chef and see them creating  their masterpiece for the world to see and feast upon.

Here are some pics of food that I have taken at a restaurant and a friends place: