Month: April 2014

Individual 1: When I was people watching from my front porch, the first person I spotted was a tall skinny guy wearing a Metallica shirt and listening to huge headphones on his ears. He looked to be about 20 years old and it seemed as if he did not want to talk or interact with anyone that passed him. I believe that based on his dress, he is very involved in the music scene. He was also holding a skateboard so I would guess that he has a love for extreme outdoor sports. I feel as if he does not seem very welcoming to any people that come into his presence since he was pretty much just staring at the ground when he walked. I believe that these assumptions say something about my own values and beliefs because I feel as if I’m the opposite because I’m very outgoing and love to talk to people that I come into contact with.

Individual 2: Another person I saw was a blonde girl with her hair curled wearing a sorority shirt, jean shorts and sandals. She has holding a designer purse and had designer sunglasses on. She looked about 18 years old. I believe that based on her dress, she is from an influential family and cares very much about her outward appearance and spends a great deal of money maintaining that appearance. She seemed very bouncy and happy and enthusiastically said hi to two people that she knew passing her. Since she seemed so truly happy, I believe that her emotional condition is positive and that she was genuinely having a good day as she was walking by. I believe that these assumptions say something about my own values and beliefs because I can relate to her being so excited and happy on a sunny day and going out of her way to say hello to people she knew.

Individual 3: Another person I saw was a girl on a run completely decked out in Nike apparel. She was wearing a Nike shirt, shorts, hat and shoes. She looked about 22 years old and she seemed as if she was having a great time running. I believe that she is someone who cares very much about her health because she looked very much in shape. Also, I feel as if she, like the previous girl, cares much about her outward appearance by only wearing a certain brand of exercise clothing. Since she was exercising, I think that her emotional condition is on a positive level because she looked genuinely happy to be out in the sun running. I believe that these assumptions say something about my own values and beliefs. I think that looking at her made me wish that I didn’t dislike running so much and that I could go running in the sun as well.

Fabio Parasecoli, an associate professor and coordinator of food studies in New York, wrote an article for the Huffington Post called Is Food Art? Chefs, Creativity, and the Restaurant Business? He discusses why he believes food is art by drawing the connections between the two and giving comparisons of the food scene and the art scene. Parasecoli brings up a completely valid argument saying how “some chefs – or groups of chefs – actually express their visions and their goals in cookbook introductions, interviews, or Internet profiles that are similar in intention and tone to the manifestos of the avant-garde movements of the past” (Parasecoli). He’s arguing how a chef and an artist have much more in common than one might think, just as a food critic and an art critic would.

Elizabeth Tefler and Fabio Parasecoli have very similar arguments on why they believe that food can be art. For instance, Tefler states how “people who use the phrase ‘work of art’ in this evaluative way are from one point of view commending the things that they call works of art, but it does not follow that they consider all works of art to be good ones” (Tefler 13). This relates back to how Parasecoli argues that young gifted chefs do not tend to worry about whether “narrow-minded customers” will appreciate their work (Parasecoli). Both of them know that certain people may not appreciate a work of art or a food dish as much as someone else would be. Everyone has their own opinions as to what art can be and there are definitely people out there who argue that food is not art, no matter how aesthetically and physically appealing it may look in appearance.

I think a perfect example of why food can be art is the Food Network. There are so many different shows on that network that are dedicated to food being presented and made in a beautiful and creative manner. For instance, the show Cupcake Wars is a competition style show where four different pastry chefs come together to compete to win a large amount of money and get national recognition for not just how their cupcakes taste, but how they look. The way that they make the cupcakes look is just as important as how they make it taste. Several competitors have been sent home because their cupcakes did not look as nice as their fellow chefs. Tefler helps to support these claims by discussing a famous pastrycook named Careme and how she believes that “food…is likewise often arranged or decorated in creative or attractive ways which constitute a visual work of art” (Tefler 14). I completely agree with this because I believe that the visual aspect of food is just as important as how the food tastes. Parasecoli adds to this argument by stating how chefs are not just artists or craftsmen, they are basically expected to offer customers and critics various selections on the menu that “stimulate and surprise them, find new methods to manipulate ingredients, and interact with technology and design in ways that keep them on the cutting edge and ensure coverage from the press, TV, and the Internet” (Parasecoli). I think that this argument completely relates back to the Food Network and all of the shows that it offers to viewers. No one will continue to watch the shows if the food stayed the same each time. The chefs are expected to make unique, beautiful and delicious dishes in order to not just win the competition, but to intrigue viewers with how appealing their dish looks since the viewer is not able to actually taste the dish. In a majority of the cooking competition shows, the chefs are required to make a dish with out-of-the-ordinary ingredients that most people would not include in the specific type of dish they are creating. So they must use their creativity and knowledge of the culinary industry to make the food look and taste amazing.

In conclusion, I believe that food can be considered to be art because you can express your creativity through cooking. However, chefs need to make sure to use their creativity in a way that isn’t just appealing to them, but is appealing to the majority of their customers. Fabio Parasecoli reiterates this perfectly when he states how “if creativity in the kitchen produces income, it is highly praised as a cultural achievement and valued as a commercial asset. But if creativity becomes excessive, intimidating, or turns away customers, investors will not hesitate to demand a different attitude from the chefs whose salaries they pay.”

 

Sources:

Parasecoli, Fabio. “Is Food Art? Chefs, Creativity, and the Restaurant Business?” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fabio-parasecoli/food-art_b_3830791.html>.

Tefler, E. (2002). Food as Art. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 2). New York, NY: Routledge.

I definitely think that food can be considered art. One of the most important factors in serving food on a dish is to make the presentation of it aesthetically pleasing. Food isn’t just supposed to taste good, it’s supposed to look good as well in order to attract an audience. It is also a main reason why people go to culinary school, they need to learn how to make their food looking externally picturesque, as well as tasting delicious.

In the reading for this week, Food as Art, Elizabeth Telfer states how “a work of art by definition [is] a man-made thing, even if the human involvement need consist of no more than putting a natural object in a gallery and giving it a title” (Tefler 12). I completely agree with this because she basically explains how anything that an individual human being makes or creates can be art, no matter what it is. Just because something is not in a museum and doesn’t have a title or description with it, does not mean that it is not art.

Food also can be considered to be art because you can express your creativity through cooking. There can so many different colors and textures on someone’s plate, and you can mix different colors to create a food masterpiece. It is art you can give to others. Just like how last week we learned how Ellen Dissanayake describes “making special,” I believe that each cook, chef or any human that makes food, does it in a way to make it special and unique and in their own style.

Starting with the basics, natural goods come from nature and nature itself is beauty. Everything natural is shaped in a way that man cannot shape and that is what makes each food product from nature completely unique. Overall, I absolutely believe that food, in any way shape or form, is art.

Paleoanthropsychobiological is a term that is used to suggest that art includes all of human history, includes all human societies, and covers the face that art is a psychological or emotional need and has psychological or emotional effects. This term was original coined by Ellen Dissanayake, and she uses this term to describe her view that “in order to include human history, human cultures, and human psychology, art must be viewed as an inherent universal (or biological) trait of the human species, as normal and as natural as language, sex, sociability, aggression, or any of the other characteristics of human nature.” (pg. 15)

Dissanayake explains the phrase “make special” as to “make special” things that someone cares for or activities that have aftereffect with a big meaningful significance. Ellen describes making special as a fundamental human productivity or need. This idea is related to art and human survival because art is something that needs to be “made special” by the artist in order to be unique or considered art.

One theory of art is postmodernism and it insinuates art as interpretation. The time period when this was developed was around the 20^th century. Ellen describes how using this, artists and everyone else “interprets art according to their individual and cultural sensibilities.” (pg. 20) This theory shows that art can be fundamental and essential to everybody and the fact that we are actually able to find art everyday.

Another theory of art is modernism. This theory was developed during the 18^th century and it was when a genuine appreciation for art truly started. Modernism was when individuals really started to focus on the ideology behind art and its different forms, and what inspired each different type of work. It was “a concern with elucidating principles such as taste and beauty that govern all the art and indeed make them simply not paintings or statues.” (pg. 17)

One last theory of art is art that is from Greek and medieval times. This theory shows that regular people’s interpretations of art are completely different from the work of real artists. Art was pretty much used as a way of religion in those times. Dissanayake describes that art is “having a correct understanding of the principles involved,” (pg. 17) as opposed to the ways of what we think art is.

In the reading for this week, Ellen Dissanayake talks about her experiences living abroad for 15 years and how living in non-western countries basically forces you to look at cultural truths and beliefs in a fresh new light and in a way that us westerners have taken for granted while we were growing up. This made Dissanayake, along with myself, wonder how different societies and cultures view art. She mentions that “living in another culture also makes you realize that different as other people’s beliefs may be from one’s own, we are all still recognizably people – and so wonder what is universal” (pg. 16). I understand this as her saying how even though there are so many different cultures and types of societies out in the world, we are all still human beings but each of us appreciate different types of art.

Because of this, I believe that art is a necessary part of any type of culture, no matter where you are from or how you have been raised. Any type of art form created by a specific person shows their beliefs on the world, which is coming from their own culture and society. Ellen mentions how “art must be viewed as an inherent universal (or biological) trait of the human species.” (pg. 15) In saying this, I think that she was saying how art is a completely natural behavior for any type of culture, and that whatever art is made by any type of person, should be encouraged and appreciated by anyone in the human species. Since there are so many people in the universe and everyone is raised by different types of societies, imagination and creativity should be the main focus when evaluating art from another region of the earth. You should appreciate art no matter where it is from.

Family

Friendship

Enjoyment

Loyalty

Leadership

Personal accomplishment

Independence

Personal development

Health

Security

Wisdom

Community

Wealth

Integrity

Service

Location

Creativity

Prestige

Power

Expertness

 

Today I drove a friend to the Portland airport, went for a run and then went grocery shopping. I believe that these activities represent friendship, health, enjoyment and community.  I also redid my resume so I believe that falls under the personal development category.

I think that the belief patterns that I inherited from my family are leadership, loyalty, community, integrity, creativity and health. My family is the most important thing in my life and I have learned so much from them that make me proud of who I am today. There are several goals that I have yet to pursue including finding a job for after graduation, eating healthy, doing more yoga to relax, and learning to be more grateful for everything I have. I think that laziness and procrastination are the two leading characteristics that are standing in the way of achieving my goals.

In our reading for this week, the question is brought up as to whether values truly exist in the sense of freely chosen values. It also asks if human beings are instead “driven by inherited instincts” that individuals like to dress up with the term values. (pg. 7) Even though it is a complicated subject, I do believe that values exist. I completely agree with how it states that there is a great deal of evidence that individuals are not primarily driven by genetically determined instructs but instead, they are given the choice to freely choose what they believe is best for them. I think that people should definitely be able to choose to live their life according to their own personal values about how they view themselves and the world.

Of the list of the most basic ways that we come to “know” something, I agree with the intuition way the most. “Intuition is the unconscious but most powerful part of our higher mental processing capacity,” which shows that even if we aren’t consciously trying to make a life decision, our mind is still processing it. (pg. 9)

I also agree with how it says that there is a possibility that the four basic modes of developing values are actually complete, but it is not probable. Related to what I mentioned earlier, intuition could mean a completely different thing to one person than it would mean to another. Some people trust what their intuition says and others tend to not pay attention to it as much.

Overall, I think that any individual should be able to choose their own values and morals to live their life by. In my own personal experience, although I’ve been influenced by the way my parents raised me as well as my peers, I always stick to what I feel in my gut is right or wrong and trust my own personal values to make the best decision for myself.

Check out this link to a blog post from Bulldog Reporter about reaching out to millennials through social media. 

Response: I thought this blog was very informative because since I’m very interested in public relations and social media, it explained to me how millennials tend to trust brands more if they are creating a consistent experience across each of their social media channels. There was a research report conducted that found four useful points in regard to this.

1. Millennials embrace brands on social media.
2. Social networks and customizable new feeds dominate content discovery.
3. Customers want the inside track to freebies.
4. Growing a customer relationship isn’t always about getting a sale.

Each of these four pieces of information can show a company how to use their brand to correctly communicate with their customers. I think that this is extremely crucial for a company to learn so that they can continue to maintain a positive image of their brand and to upkeep their reputation in whatever industry they are in.