Artifact Three: Is Food Art? Discussion
Objective:
- 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.
- Explore the notion of food as an art-form.
- Consider cultural differences in the production and consumption food.
Original Post:
Food As Art Discussion
As a daily needful thing, food not only can offer people energy and sustain the life of people but also can be appreciated by people. In my perspective, food can be seen as art. After read the article, “Food as Art. In Neill, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd. Ed, Chapter 2)”. I am more convinced that food is artwork. As I said in the last post, “anything that enjoys people can be art”. People can use vision to appreciate painting, use hearing to listen music. Similarly, people use gustation to taste food. Therefore, the yummy food enjoys people’s sense of taste. In other word, delicious food is artwork. In the article, some people claim that slow food is more artistic than fast food. I don’t think so, I think both slow food and fast food are artistic. For their taste, there are many delicious fast food which can be seen as art.
All the food, cooked by people, is made by people’s creativeness. No matter fast or slow food. Besides, the looks of food are really important. The shape, color and taste can be designed by people. For instance, the burger has green Lettuce, red tomato and yellow bread. “Both an original recipe and an actual dish are works of art if they are regarded aesthetically”. For example, most Chinese food are slow food, and cook Chinese food has many rules. In some high-class restaurants, chefs like to carve some vegetables and put them as side dishes. In Japan, Japanese food also as artistic as Chinese food. Like Sushi, Sashimi, both two need high skilled of cutting. First, Chef need enough originality to cook the sushi. And every sushi is handmade, they use different food material to make it beautiful. Not only Asian food, but western food also can be seen as art.
Reflection:
This chapter talk about “Is food art”. In this assignment, I mainly discussed that why I think food is art. In other words, the relationship between art and food. This chapter brought up a interesting topic about fast food and slow food. After reading the article and watched two videos, I got my answer “slow food is art, fast food is craft”. To compare fast food and slow food, I went to the Burger King and a local Japanese restaurant. When I stop by this Japanese restaurant, I can watch how chef cooks Japanese food. The chef makes Sushi very fast and skillful. He not only make Sushi, but also make an artwork. He match different color food together and put them into dishes by special order. Therefore, I think it is fine art. When I went to nearest Burger King, I found that their kitchen looks like a factory. Although their food also is colorful and delicious, they are not fine art. On the one hand, it is too easy to make. On the other hand is that the fast food almost made by machine. Therefore, fast food just can be craft. The conclusion is same as what I learned in the article, “there is another possible distinction between art and craft: art is original creation, whereas craft is carrying out an instruction, following a convention or employing a technique” (Whittick 1984: 47-52)
Through the study in this chapter, I learned a lot about food and art. I made some food by my self in these days to help me study. First on is a beef salad, it shapes as a robot and made by beef and bean seeding. I boiled beef in the water and cut it when it becomes cold. I think this is an artwork, because I just use food as material to build a cute robot. This items also can be eaten.
For objective 3, I have two more good example. The first one is Chinese dumplings. I made these dumpling for Chinese spring festival. Dumpling is Chinese traditional food, people can easily eat fry dumpling in the Panda Express or some Japanese restaurants. However, that not traditional dumpling. The process to make dumpling in the picture is very complex. I will not introduced here.
Second is a seafood which I ate it in the Miami, Florida. There are lobster, squid rings and many shellfish in it.
Depends on different culture, there are different food in the world. These two pictures shows that big difference between Eastern and Western countries. Dumpling can be a typical traditional food in China. American focus more on the nutrition of the food, while Chinese focus more on the taste.
For the future:
I need to learn more knowledge about food and art, because different countries have different food culture. I will consider each meal about their artistic before I eat. Beside, I will find out more examples about fast food and slow food, in order to better understand the difference between craft and fine art.
artifact 1: Life Value Assessment
artifact 3: Is Food Art? Discussion
artifact 4: The Art of Personal Adornment
artifact 5: Aesthetics of Horror
artifact 6: Creativity Spirituality
artifact 7: Art, Technology and Games