Is Food Art?
Is food a form of art? My reaction to that question is yes; food can certainly be a form of art. In particular food that is crafted. The video presentation of this week made a distinction between fast food and slow food, in which they discussed the merits of these foods and which is intrinsically better, however economically I don’t think there is a real problem with fast food, of course there are problems when antibiotics are introduced into meat and other situations where the public good is not taken into account. In general having cheap food readily available given a certain amount of concern for health should not be a bad thing. The question at hand however is whether food is art, and although the video presentation did not specifically make a case for food as art, the video about slow food and the story about the process of making the food made me think about how food can be art and without the intention of it, illustrated a story of craftsmanship and togetherness that can make food a form of art. It is “species-centered art” a coming together of people, with traditional food that is artfully crafted from a recipe that has been culturally established and handed down from generations. This is the aesthetic that Elizabeth Telfer talks about, the will of the master chef to bring his creations to life were presentation is taken with just as much care as the taste of the food. “This is the approach of the cook who is designing a work of art”(15) This is really what makes food art, like Jiro the world famous sushi chef, when the processes of crafting the food, and the constant desire to perfect his craft with beautiful presentation, the master chef is in this case creating art.
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4 Responses to “Is Food Art?”
I found it interesting to read your post and see your take on food as art. I completely agree with you that food can be art in how it is crafted. When I watched the video on slow food versus fast food, I found it interesting how both of these forms of food are viewed and created. You talk about how there is nothing wrong with fast food and at times, it can be an important part of society being readily available. My question to you is that when you talk about the crafting of food as artwork, what do you think of the crafting of fast food in terms of artwork? Unlike other foods where it takes skill, precision and passion, fast food is created through cheap and unhealthy measures. This crafting of food is taking a short cut and coming up with the easiest and most cost effective way to make food. Would you say the crafting of fast food is as equally artwork as a master chefs ability to craft food?
The difference between craft and art on food is not that clear, Like Elizabeth Telfer refers on the article, “And if the distinction between craft and art is based on the degree of creativeness, some cookery can still qualify as an art” (16). So, maybe we could not easily say that food can be a form of art, we need to add a qualifier that the food made with creativeness is an artwork. Actually, in personal idea, no matter it is fast food or slow food, we all can make it becomes art if we add some creation on it. On the healthy side, I do agree that fast food is not good for our health, but is there any relationship between health and art? I think the art also need to make people’s physical and mental pleasure and enjoyment, so if the food is not good for health, it should not be counted as art.
You made an intriguing point about how culinary art could have cultural basis and carry the significance of aesthetics in the process of crafting food. I think that many people would think by default that the old way of cooking is the correct way and the slow cooking is more crafty. However, I think that food art should not be limited to the old way of cooking and I even consider fast food as an artistic reflection of contemporary culture. For example, people in my high school enjoys in-and-out burgers and the memory about driving to the nearest in-and-out is one of our favorite memories. Moreover, fast food suggests how busy people are and sometimes fast food such as lunchables are very creative in fulfilling people’s survival needs. I agree with you that food is art and I think the artistic attribution of art should be very broad and creative, and should not be fixated into slow cooking.
Blackist, you pose the question what I think of the crafting of fast food in terms of artwork and I think that Violet has a really good take on this. Fast food can certainly become a form of art if it fulfills the qualifiers that we have made. If for instance a fast food chef goes into the kitchen and comes up with some crazy creative idea then one could very easily argue that this is art. However I think that regular fast food still does not meet these qualifiers as there is no creativity at the individual level and the people perform functions like machines. In terms of the relationship between health and art it would really depend on how we define art, if we are talking about purely visual aesthetics or culture or art for the body. Jingyi I think you make a very good point, your argument really touches on the art as culture debate and the coming together as friends enjoying something that is distinctly American could be argued to be species-centered art.