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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