Food As Art Artifact
To view the original post “Food As Art,” click here.
Objective
- Explore the notion of food as an artform.
- Consider cultural differences in the production and consumption food.
Reflection
The artifact “Food As Art” accomplishes the objectives listed above and considers the differences between fast and slow food and their role in the art world. Food is one of the most culturally diverse aspects of our world. Humans have always relied on food for survival and as our society has progressed so has the complexity of our food. Cultural diversity appeared as a product of availability and abundance. But how does this relate to art and the modern and postmodern views of art? To begin to understand such questions, I looked to Elizabeth Tefler’s essay “Food As Art” and back to Ellen Dissanayake’s speech where she addressed some of the major movements of art.
This particular artifact helps to draw conclusions about why we can view food as an art, which achieves the objective: explore the notion of food as an art form. Tefler makes the argument, “food cannot move us in the way that music and the other major arts can” (p. 25). Although Tefler argued that food was a minor art, I disagree and believe food can be beautiful, moving, and aesthetically pleasing. To build upon this idea, I honed in on Nathan Myhrvold’s modernist cuisine in a later blog post called “Food, Art, & Science.” I evaluated Myhrvold’s cuisine and techniques in the eyes of modernist and postmodernists based off Dissanayake’s movements and a wonderful description of one of his 50 course meals written by a NY Times Style author, Dwight Garner. I used the following quote from Myhrvold’s personal website to support my conclusion and challenge Tefler: “Cuisine is a creative art in which the chef and diner are in dialogue. Food is the primary medium for this dialogue, but all sensory aspects of the dining experience contribute to it.”
The photo above displays one of Myhrvold’s beautiful creations. It truly is edible art. Food as art can also fit into Dissanayake’s ideas of making special as the process of creating and consuming food can be aesthetically and emotionally pleasing.
Future Directions
Future or alternate directions of this project would include evaluating other styles of cuisine and whether we can consider all food art.
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Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll. Keynote adresses 1991, (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
Garner, D. (2014, June 15). The End of Cuisine. The New York Times. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
Telfer, E. (2002). Food as art. In Neill, A. & Ridley, A. , Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (pp. 9-27). New York: Routledge.